^^ 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


GIFT  OF 

MRS.  MARY  WOLFSOHN 

IN   MEMORY  OF 

HENRY  WOLFSOHN 


wmff^M^iW^^v? 


<W*    I 

f*   Q/t  C:\       ^ 


KKrearJlrJg2g^KK 


DE  WITT  &  SNELLINC 

BOOKSELLERS 

I  TELEGRAPH  AVE  OAKLAND.  CAL 


A  REASONABLE  FAITH. 


A  SEASONABLE  FAITH 


PLAIN  SERMONS    ON  FAMILIAR 
CHRISTIAN  EVIDENCES 


ARTHUR  CROSBY 


PASTOR  OF  THE   PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  OF  SAN  RAFAEL, 
CALIFORNIA. 


x 

OF  THF  \ 

UNIVERSITY 


SAN    RAFAEL,    CAL. 
MARIN    JOURNAL    PRINTING    HOUSE 

1889 


Coptti'Hjtit,  1888, 
ARTHUR  CROSBY. 


PREFACE. 


158787 


IN  California,  skepticism  among 
respectable  people  is  much  ^  more 
outspoken  than  in  the  Eastern  States. 

Good  men,  whose  families  are  in 
the  church,  excellent  citizens  and 
neighbors,  do  not  hesitate  to  express 
with  utmost  candor  their  unbelief 
in  revealed  religion.  There  is  very 
little  conventional,  or  merely  formal 
Christianity  here,  for  there  is  almost 
no  temptation  for  a  man  to  conceal 
his  real  sentiments  if  he  be  an  unbe- 
liever. 

It  is  just  about  as  respectable  to 
play  lawn  tennis,  or  to  go  duck- 
shooting  of  a  Sunday  morning,  as  to 
go  to  church.  This  practical  irre- 
ligion  is  generally  either  the  efficient 
cause  or  the  immediate  result  of  the 
prevailing  skepticism;  so  that,  as  a 
rule,  the  line  is  sharply  drawn 
between  believers  and  unbelievers. 


viii  PREFACE. 

The  frankness  of  those  who  deny 
the  truth  of  Christianity,  although 
rather  startling  at  first  to  one  accus- 
tomed to  the  greater  reserve  of 
Eastern  unbelief,  is  not  without  its 
advantages  both  to  the  unbeliever 
himself  and  to  the  preacher  of  the 
gospel.  The  unbeliever  forms  the 
habit  of  consistency — of  acting  as 
he  thinks;  so  that  if  he  can  be 
brought  to  think  rightly,  he  is  much 
more  likely  at  once  to  rectify  his 
conduct.  The  change  in  his  views 
will  be  marked  by  a  definite  change 
in  his  life. 

The  preacher  has  this  advantage, 
that  he  knowrs  what  he  has  to  deal 
with,  and  can  be  outspoken  and 
aggressive.  The  strongholds  he  must 
assail  are  not  masked  batteries.  The 
guns  of  the  enemy  are  in  full  sight. 
He  will,  moreover,  very  soon  dis- 
cover the  fact  that  the  prevalent 
unbelief  is,  for  the  most  part,  neither 
very  profound  nor  very  obdurate,  and 
to  meet  it  and  counteract  its  influ- 


PREFACE.  ix 

ence,  he  will  find  a  plain  restatement 
of  familiar  evidences  the  most  effec- 
tive method. 

Unfortunately,  however,  the  peo- 
ple whom  he  most  desires  to  reach 
are  seldom  in  church  and,  in  all 
probability,  will  not  hear  the  ser- 
mons which  he  has  prepared  for  their 
especial  benefit. 

It  is  in  the  hope  of  meeting,  in 
some  measure,  this  difficulty  in  my 
own  parish  that  I  risk  the  publica- 
tion of  these  sermons.  Perhaps  there 
are  some  who  will  read  them,  who 
would  not  come  to  church  and  hear 
them  preached.  I  also  venture  to 
hope  that  they  may  in  some  slight 
degree  supply  a  need  in  other  places. 
This  hope  is  not  based  upon  any 
originality  in  the  arguments;  cer- 
lainly  not  upon  any  brilliancy  of 
treatment.  The  arguments  are  old, 
and,  to  those  who  have  given  atten- 
tion to  such  matters,  familiar.  The 
method  of  treatment  and  the  style 
of  composition  are  commonplace. 


x  PREFACE. 

Perhaps  therefore  the  usefulness  of 
the  book  will  be  greater. 

What  most  people  need  for  th£ 
confirmation  of  their  faith  is  not 
something  new,  not  something  bril- 
liant. They  simply  need  to  have  set 
before  them  in  unpretentious  lan- 
guage the  old,  well-established  argu- 
ments for  the  truth  of  the  Bible  and 
for  the  Divinity  of  Christ.  And  to 
do  this  has  been  my  aim  in  these 
plain  sermons. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once  that  their 
purpose  is  not  to  answer  the  more 
profound  metaphysical  and  scientific 
objections  to  Christianity.  These  are 
fully  answered  in  the  many  learned 
treatises  of  eminent  theologians  and 
philosophers.  But  for  the  most  part, 
the  works  of  Christian  apologists  are 
too  deep,  and  require  too  much  learn- 
ing on  the  part  of  the  reader  to  be 
read  by  busy  people  of  ordinary  edu- 
cation. 

My  intention,  in  this  volume,  has 
been  to  group  together,  and  to  state 


PREFACE.  xi 

in  the  simplest  and  most  direct  Eng- 
lish, some  of  those  evidences  which 
have  stood  the  test  of  time,  which 
have  never  been  answered — simply 
because  they  are  unanswerable.  The 
last  two  sermons — those  on  Sin  and 
on  Regeneration — are  intended  to 
.show  the  practical  effects  which 
should  result  from  a  conviction  of 
the  truth  of  revealed  religion.  They 
are  intended  to  lead  those  who  intel- 
lectually believe  to  that  personal 
repentance  and  that  heart  faith,  with- 
out which  mere  belief  is  of  no  avail. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

I.     No  MYSTERY — No  FAITH 1 

II.     A  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN 23 

III.  THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM 47 

IV.  WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST  ? 67 

V.     THE  THREE  WITNESSES 93 

VI.     THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF 123 

Vil.     SIN 145 

VIE[.     REGENERATION 107 


I. 

No  Mystery— No  Faith. 


or  THE 
UNIVERSITY 


I. 


ISAIAH  xlv,  15.     "  Verily  thou  art  a  God  that  hidest 
thyself." 

OUR  whole  existence  in  this  world 
is  involved  in  mystery.  The  wisest 
and  most  learned  of  men  are  pro- 
foundly ignorant  of  many  things 
which  come  nearest  to  us.  Our 
birth,  our  life,  our  death,  our  bodies, 
our  minds,  our  feelings,  our  nourish- 
ment, our  growth,  our  decay,  our 
material  and  spiritual  environment 
are  all  deep,  unfathomable  myster- 
ies. Scientific  men  explore  and 
investigate.  Philosophers  reason. 
Theories  are  propounded.  Systems 
are  constructed,  and  wise  men  an- 
nounce their  discoveries  and  their 
conclusions  to  an  admiring  world. 
And  what  does  it  all  amount  to? 
Isaac  Newton,  the  greatest,  the  wis- 


4  NO  MYSTERY—  NO  FAITH. 

est,  as  well  as  the  most  humble  or 
them  all,  declared  that  he  was  bat  a 
little  child  picking  up  pebbles  on  the 
shore  of  an  infinite  ocean.  We  must 
confess  that  all  we  know  of  nature 
and  of  life — the  whole  sum  of  human 
knowledge,  is  as  nothing  compared 
with  what  we  do  not  and  cannot 
know. 

In  whatever  direction  we  turn  our 
curious  investigations,  we  soon  come 
to  an  impassable  barrier,  beyond 
which  it  is  useless  for  us  to  try  to 
penetrate.  For  instance,  suppose 
that  like  Solomon  we  desire  to  know 
all  about  the  plants  and  the  trees— 
from  the  hyssop  that  is  upon  the 
wall,  to  the  cedar  that  glorifies  the 
slopes  of  Mt.  Lebanon — we  proceed 
to  study  with  careful  industry  the 
peculiarities  of  form,  of  color,  of 
growth  of  many  thousand  specimens. 
Then  we  classify  and  arrange  them. 
We  give  them  names  and  place  each 
one  in  its  proper  order.  We  discover 
certain  laws  of  development,  and  by 


NO  MYSTERY- NO  FAITH.  5 

fulfilling  certain  ascertained  condi- 
tions we  can  even  control  to  some 
extent  the  form  and  color  of  the 
plant.  But  who  knows  what  the 
life  is  which  underlies  all  this?  Who 
has  discovered  the  hidden  principle 
contained  in  the  seed?  Who  can  tell 
how  it  is  that  sun  and  rain  and  earth 
combine  with  that  mysterious  germ 
to  produce  the  green  herb,  or  the 
flower  of  the  field,  or  the  stately 
forest  tree?  Who  has  succeeded  in 
making,  by  art  and  man's  device, 
even  the  most  insignificant  growing 
plant?  Here  we  have  reached  the 
barrier,  and  beyond  this  limit  the 
youngest  infant  is  as  wise  as  Solo- 
mon himself. 

So  again  the  anatomist  and  phys- 
iologist have  examined  the  human 
frame  with  minute  and  patient  atten- 
tion, and  all  the  strange  and  compli- 
cated machinery  of  our  bodies,  by 
which  we  move  and  walk  and  eat 
and  sleep — all  the  wonderfully  har- 
monious relations  and  interdepend- 


6  iVO  MYSTERY—NO  FAITH. 

encies  of  these  useful  organs  and 
members  are,  or  we  may  believe  will 
be  known  and  described,  but  here 
again  the  limit  is  reached.  The  liv- 
ing soul,  the  thinking  mind,  the  sad 
or  joyful  emotion  of  the  heart,  the 
action  of  the  will  upon  brain  and 
nerve  arid  sinew, — all  these,  which 
are  the  very  essentials  of  man,  are 
mysteries  about  which  the  most 
learned  and  ingenious  can  tell  us  no 
more  than  the  most  ignorant  and 
foolish  of  men. 

The  truth  is,  that  on  overy  side  of 
us — above,  below,  within,  without 
us — in  the  air  we  breathe,  in  the 
food  we  eat,  in  the  thoughts  we 
think — in  the  whole  course  of  life, 
and  in  the  w^hole  sphere  of  nature, 
God  is  present,  working  out  the 
wonders  of  his  will;  and  hence  mys- 
teries abound,  and  human  intellect 
is  baffled,  and  human  curiosity  is 
rebuked,  and  human  pride  is  hum- 
bled. 

The  finite  cannot  grasp  the  infin- 


NO  MYSTERY— NO  FAITH.  7 

ite,  and  with  all  our  boasted  progress 
we  have  only  learned  the  first  letters 
of  an  alphabet,  the  literature  of 
which  fills  the  universe  to  its  remot- 
est bound — we  have  but  touched  the 
outer  hem  of  the  garment  with  which 
God  is  clothed. 

Thus,  whichever  way  we  turn  in 
search  of  truth,  we  are  soon  con- 
fronted by  questions  which  no  human 
wisdom  can  solve,  and  which  baffle 
the  most  careful  and  painstaking 
investigation. 

Now  since  this  is  so;  since  in  the 
structure  of  our  own  bodies  and 
minds — since  in  all  our  relations 
with  the  material  world  there  is  so 
much  that  is  mysterious  and  inexpli- 
cable— it  would  be  strange  indeed  if 
in  our  relations  with  our  Creator 
everything  were  plain  and  simple 
and  easily  understood  by  our  finite 
intelligence. 

While  the  sciences  of  nature  and 
of  man — the  sciences  of  things  vis- 
ible and  tangible — are  limited  and 


•8  NO  MYSTERY— NO  FAITH. 

imperfect,  by  reason  of  the  limita- 
tion of  our  powers,  we  may  certainly 
expect  that  religion,  the  science  of 
the  supernatural,  the  science  of  God, 
of  the  invisible  and  spiritual,  will 
be  compassed  with  difficulties  alto- 
gether insurmountable  by  human 
reason.  We  may  expect  to  meet  with 
facts  which  we  cannot  explain,  and 
which  we  cannot  harmonize  in  any 
exact  system  of  thought,  or  even  ex- 
press in  any  logical  formula  of  words 
and  phrases.  Even  with  all  the  light 
which  revelation  sheds  upon  our  spir 
itual  conditions  and  our  relations 
with  God — with  all  the  illuminating 
and  guiding  influences  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  with  all  the  instruction  af- 
forded by  the  Christian  experience 
of  many  generations — there  is  yet 
much,  very  much,  of  which  we  are 
left  in  utter  ignorance.  There  are 
many  high  mysteries  which  are  far 
above  our  comprehension,  and  which 
we  cannot  by  any  means  reduce 
within  the  scope  of  finite  reasoning. 


NO  MYSTERY— NO  FAITH.  & 

The  alchemists  of  the  middle  ages 
devoted  their  lives  to  the  discovery 
of  the  philosopher's  stone,  which 
should  transmute  the  baser  metals 
into  gold.  The  modern  scientific 
man,  who  imagines  that  he  can  pen- 
etrate nature's  secret  of  the  source 
and  origin  of  life,  is  the  victim  of  an 
infatuation  quite  as  irrational.  And 
equally  foolish  and  futile  is  the  labor 
of  those  who  would  explain  in  the 
terms  of  exact  science  the  mysteries 
of  the  Divine  Being,  or  construct  a 
logical  and  consistent  system  which 
shall  include  all  the  facts  regarding 
sin  and  salvation. 

No  doubt  the  studies  a  nd  researches 
of  the  theologians  have  great  value- 
so  long  as  they  have  for  their  object 
the  clearer  knowledge  of  the  word 
of  God;  the  more  vivid  illustration 
of  Christian  truth;  the  more  impres- 
sive arrangement  of  the  facts  of 
religion;  the  more  appropriate  de- 
fense of  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible. 
But  when  they  go  beyond  all  thi& 


10  NO  MYSTERY— NO  FAITH. 

and  attempt  to  set  forth  a  complete 
system  of  doctrine,  and  claim  for  it 
logical  consistency  throughout,  and 
the  authority  of  absolute  truth; 
when  they  attempt  to  formulate  divine 
revelation  and  pretend  to  cover  the 
whole  ground  of  theoretical  religion 
with  their  definitions  and  statements, 
then  they  are  going  beyond  their 
proper  work,  and  the  result  is  con- 
fusion and  contradiction. 

Take  for  example  the  Calvinistic 
system  of  theology,  as  set  forth  in  the 
Doctrinal  Standards  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  probably  the  most  log- 
ical and  consistent  ever  constructed. 
Their  statements,  for  the  most  part, 
express  revealed  truth  in  clear  and 
precise  terms,  but  after  all  they  do 
not,  strictly  speaking,  present  a  sys- 
tem. It  is  not  a  perfect  and  har- 
monious whole,  and  the  effort  to  force 
dogmas,  which  are  true,  into  logical 
agreement  within  the  range  of  human 
reasoning,  has  resulted  in  some  state- 
ments which  are  both  unscriptural 


NO  MYSTERY— NO  FAITH.  II 

and  absurd.  No  doubt,  however, 
systematic  theology  has  its  place  and 
its  use,  when  too  much  is  not  claimed 
for  it;  but  we  must  be  careful  to 
acknowledge  and  emphasize  the  fact 
that  there  are  many  things  about 
God  and  religion  that  we  do  not  know 
and  need  not  expect  to  know  this 
side  the  grave.  "Verily  thou  art  a 
God  that  hidest  thyself." 

Now  there  are  many  who  are 
checked  in  their  approach  to  Chris- 
tianity by  this  fact  of  mystery,  this 
unsearchablenees  of  God  and  divine 
truth.  They  want  to  know  all  about 
God  before  they  will  believe  on  Him. 
They  demand  that  all  difficulties  shall 
be  removed  and  all  mysteries  solved 
before  they  will  accept  Christ  as  their 
Savior  or  take  the  precepts  of  the 
gospel  as  their  guide  in  life.  When 
you  point  them  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  redeemer  of  the  world, 
and  urge  them  to  believe  on  Him  and 
be  saved — they  ask  you  to  reconcile 
God's  sovereignty  and  man's  free 


12  NO  MYSTERY— NO  FAITH. 

"will;  or  else  they  enter  upon  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  origin  of  evil,  or  of 
eternal  punishment,  or  of  the  nature 
of  the  Trinity,  or  of  the  atonement, 
or  of  the  incarnation — and  they  re- 
fuse to  go  a  step  toward  Christ,  in 
practical  trust  and  love,  until  these 
vast  and  mysterious  questions  are 
settled. 

But  surely  this  is  not  wise;  it  is 
not  reasonable.  You  do  not  and 
could  not  take  up  such  a  position  in 
regard  to  other  matters.  There  are 
mysteries  everywhere,  and  to  be  con- 
sistent you  should  also  refuse  to 
think,  until  it  is  settled  by  the  scien- 
tific authorities  just  what  thought  is, 
and  whether  it  is  the  cause  or  the 
effect  of  cerebral  motion.  And  you 
should  refuse  to  eat  your  daily  bread, 
until  you  are  informed  how  it  is  that 
the  planted  seed  breaks  forth  into 
new  life  and  produces,  "first  the 
blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the 
lull  ?orn  in  the  ear." 

What  Christ  asks  of  you  is  that 


.¥0  MYSTERY— NO  FAITH.  1£ 

you  should  believe  on  Him  as  your 
personal  Lord  and  deliverer — as  one 
who  is  able  and  willing  to  save  you 
from  the  grasp  of  your  own  sin,  and 
from  all  its  evil  consequences.  He 
wants  you  to  trust  his  friendship, 
and  to  leave  all  your  highest  inter- 
ests in  his  care  and  keeping.  And 
all  these  puzzling  philosophical  and 
theological  questions  are  of  second- 
ary importance.  If  you  can  arrive 
at  a  satisfactory  belief  concerning 
them,  well  and  good;  but  if  not,  then 
learn  to  hold  them  in  abeyance  and 
wait  patiently  until  the  Holy  Spirit 
shall  lead  you  into  all  truth.  Mean- 
while it  is  enough  if  you  trust  Christ 
as  your  Savior,  and  try  to  do  his 
will.  What  I  urge  is  this — Look  at 
the  Lord  Jesus,  study  his  life  in  the 
gospels,  examine  his  character,  note 
his  spirit,  become  familiar  with  the 
principles  of  his  teaching,  and  see- 
ing— believe!  Believe  on  Him  per- 
sonally. Never  mind  the  intricacies 
of  theology.  Never  mind  what  is. 


14  NO  MYSTERY— NO  FAITH. 

hidden  and  mysterious .  Just  believe 
on  Jesus  Christ.  If  you  really  desire 
to  find  the  truth,  you  certainly  cannot 
fail  to  recognize  that  truth  which 
shines  in  His  life  and  teachings,  there- 
fore unite  yourself  to  Him;  surren- 
der yourself  to  His  control;  adopt 
His  principles  and  follow  His  guid- 
ance. This  is  the  kind  of  faith  which 
the  gospel  demands.  This  is  what 
is  meant  by  receiving  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven  as  a  little  child.  Lay 
aside  the  pride  of  intellect.  Do  not 
stop  to  reason  out  the  how  and  the 
why  of  every  question.  Do  not  wait 
to  solve  every  mystery,  but  simply 
cling  to  Jesus  with  the  trust  and  love 
of  the  heart,  and  that,  because  he  is 
so  evidently  worthy  of  trust  and  love. 
Thus  only  can  we  be  saved,  and  thus 
only  can  we  come  to  an  assured  con- 
viction of  the  higher  truths  of  Rev- 
elation. 

Let  a  man  walk  in  the  light  so  far 
as  it  shines  for  him,  and  it  will  shine 
more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day. 


NO  MYSTERY— NO  FAITH.  15 

Let  him  live  up  to  what  he  does 
know  and  his  knowledge  will  surely 
increase.  As  Christ  says,  "If  any 
man  will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know 
of  the  doctrine." 

And  besides,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  principal  difficulties  at  which 
men  stumble,  and  which  they  urge 
as  objections  to  Christianity,  are  not 
at  all  peculiar  to  Christianity.  If 
you  deny  Christianity,  if  you  destroy 
the  Bible,  if  you  give  up  all  faith  in 
a  personal  God,  the  same  puzzling 
questions  remain  unanswered.  You 
are  no  nearer  to  a  solution  of  the 
mystery,  arid  you  have  lost  all  ground 
and  reason  for  the  exercise  of  faith. 

For  example,  men  object  to  the 
doctrine  of  predestination;  they  say 
that  it  interferes  with  our  free  choice, 
and  that  they  do  not  see  how  there 
can  be  any  justice  in  punishing  men 
for  anything,  if  all  their  circumstan- 
ces and  all  their  acts  are  predestined 
by  the  Creator,  so  that  they  cannot 
help  themselves.  They  refuse  to 


16  NO  MYSTERY— NO  FAITH. 

accept  a  religion  which  contains  so 
glaring  a  contradiction.  But,  if  you 
think  of  it,  this  difficulty  is  not  made 
by  the  Bible,  nor  by  Christianity.  It 
belongs  to  the  very  nature  of  things, 
and  cannot  be  got  rid  of.  It  puzzled 
the  ancient  heathen  philosophers  of 
Greece  and  Eome,  and  the  shrewdest 
of  modern  scientific  skeptics  has  no 
key  to  unlock  the  mystery.  If  you 
say  there  is  no  God;  if  you  refer  all 
existence  and  all  events  to  an  endless 
chain  of  cause  and  effect,  making  all 
the  activities  of  man  and  of  nature 
but  the  result  of  eternal  law,  you 
still  have  predestination,  though  now 
it  is  the  predestination  of  an  imper- 
sonal, blind,  immoral  fate,  instead  of 
the  righteous  and  intelligent  order- 
ing of  a  personal  creator.  And  you 
still  have  the  punishment  of  sin,  in 
the  degradation  and  misery  which 
follow  evil-doing — though  you  may 
choose  to  call  it  by  a  different  name. 
So  true  is  it  that  God's  judgments 
are  unsearchable,  and  his  ways  past 


NO  MYSTERY— NO  FAITH.  17 

finding  out.  How  foolish  then  it  is 
for  us  to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  light 
which  He  has  graciously  given  us  in 
His  word%  and  to  reject  the  truth 
which  we  might  possess,  because  we 
may  not  know  everything — because 
we  are  not  all  at  once  admitted  into 
all  the  secrets  of  creation  and  of 
Providence. 

Our  subject  has  also  a  practical 
application  to  those  of  us  who  are 
Christians- — who  have  accepted  the 
essentials  of  religion — have  taken 
the  Bible  for  our  guide  and  are  try- 
ing to  live  according  to  the  truth  as 
it  is  in  Jesus.  Some  of  us  are  per- 
haps tempted  to  speculate  too  much 
about  the  hidden  things  of  God  and 
so  to  darken  our  minds  and  neglect 
the  plain  and  simple  duties  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

No  doubt  there  are  truths  revealed 
in  God's  word  which  can  only  be 
discovered  and  understood  by  long 
study  and  patient  investigation,  and, 
it  may  be,  much  discussion;  but  you 


18  XO  MYSTERY— NO  FAITH. 

and  I,  who  necessarily  have  our  time 
and  our  thoughts  so  largely  filled 
with  the  practical  duties  of  every 
day  life  in  the  busy  world;  you  and 
I,  who  are  comparatively  ignorant 
and  unlearned,  are  not  called  upon 
to  engage  in  this  work.  This  search- 
ing out  and  discussion  of  the  deep 
things  of  Scripture  are  to  be  done  by 
men  especially  fitted  for  it — men 
whose  education,  and  training,  and 
circumstances,  and  intellectual  char- 
acteristics are  calculated  to  make 
them  wise  and  skillful  and  able  to 
discriminate  between  philosophical 
truth  and  error.  And  then  w^e  can 
take  their  conclusions  and  test  them 
by  the  word  of  God,  and  accept  or 
reject  them,  or  hold  them  in  doubt 
with  w^hat  intelligence  we  may  pos- 
sess. 

And  in  this  limitation  of  our  abil- 
ity to  understand,  or  even  to  form 
independent  opinions,  concerning 
many  things  in  Scripture,  there  is 
no  hardship,  nothing  against  the 


NO  M&&AlTH.  19 


simplicity  of  religion.  All  the  essen- 
tial truths  of  Christianity,  all  the 
doctrines  which  we  need  for  our 
guidance  in  the  ordinary  affairs  of 
life,  are  written  plainly  here,  so  that 
the  wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool, 
need  not  err  therein.  And  whatever 
is  not  thus  clear  and  plain  on-  the 
face  of  Scripture,  whatever  high  and 
mysterious  things  may  be  found  by 
careful  searching  here,  we  can  afford 
to  differ  about,  without  bitterness. 
Or,  even  if  we  form  no  definite  and 
positive  opinion  concerning  them,  I 
suppose  that  wo  shall  not  endanger 
our  souls.  It  would  be  pleasant,  no 
doubt,  to  have  all  these  questions 
cleared  up,  once  for  all,  but  there  is 
something  far  more  important  for  us 
to  strive  after  than  the  solution  of 
theological  puzzles  —  "Yet  show  I 
unto  you  a  more  excellent  way,  * 
though  I  understand  all  mys- 
teries and  all  knowledge,  and  have 
not  love,  I  am  nothing."  "Follow 
after  love." 


20  NO  MYSTERY— NO  FAITH. 

In  conclusion,  as  the  sum  of  the 
whole  matter,  let  us  all  be  more 
modest  in  our  opinions  of  God  and 
of  religion,  not  given  to  profane  and 
vain  babblings,  which  increase  to 
more  ungodliness,  but  in  all  humility 
remember  that  we  are  weak  and  fal- 
lible in  judgment,  and  that  our  pow- 
ers of  discernment  are  extremely 
limited.  There  are  many  things 
which  we  do  not  know,  and  are  not 
likely  to  know  until  death  has  opened 
wider  the  gates  of  knowledge  for  us. 

But,  blessed  be  God,  there  are 
some  glorious  things  which  we  do 
know  — "  We  know  that  all  things 
work  together  for  good  to  them  that 
love  God"  —so  that  we  need  not  be 
greatly  disturbed  by  any  of  the  vicis- 
situdes of  life;  and  *'We  know  that 
if  the  earthly  house  of  our  tabernacle 
be  dissolved,  we  have  a  building  from 
God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal,  in  the  heavens"  —so  that  we 
need  fear  no  disaster  in  the  approach 
of  death.  And  "  We  know  that  when 


NO  MYSTERY— NO  FAITH.  21 

He  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like 
Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is" 
— so  that  a  glorious  and  sinless  fu- 
ture is  in  store  for  us.  And  then, 
as  inclusive  of  all  joy  and  peace,  as 
containing  everything  that  our  hearts 
could  desire.  "We  are  persuaded  that 
neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels, 
nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor 
things  present,  nor  things  to  come, 
nor_  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other 
creature  shall  be  able  to  separate  us 
from  the  love  of  God  which  is  in 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 

Having  all  these  certainties,  rejoic- 
ing in  the  possession  of  these  price- 
less truths,  surely  we  can  be  content 
to  wait  until  our  powers  are  devel- 
oped in  a  better  world,  until  the  light 
of  God's  presence  shall  fill  us  with 
spiritual  illumination — we  can  wait 
God's  own  time,  to  be  led  into  all 
truth,  and  to  know  even  as  we  are 
known. 


II. 

A  Message  from  Heaven. 


II. 


PSALM  cxix,  105.     "  Thy  Word  is  a  lamp  unto  my 
feet  and  a  light  unto  my  path." 

IN  attempting  to  answer  the  ques- 
tion, Is  the  Bible  a  Message  from 
Heaven?  I  shall  assume  the  existence 
of  God  and  the  immortality  of  the 
soul.  I  take  for  granted  that  there 
is  a  Supreme  Being,  all  powerful,  all 
wise,  who  made  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  who  upholds  and  governs  the 
universe,  and  that  what  we  call 
Nature  and  the  Laws  of  Nature  are 
God's  methods  of  working  out  His 
will  through  and  upon  His  creatures. 

And  I  take  for  granted,  that  man 
is  immortal,  that  he  has  an  invisible, 
undying  soul,  and  that  he  was  made 
to  know  and  love  and  serve  his 
Maker.  His  true,  ideal  life  can  only 
be  developed  through  intercourse 


26  A  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN. 

and  communion  with  God.  The 
things  which  begin,  continue  and 
end  within  the  brief  period  of  his 
existence  on  the  earth — things  which 
belong  to  his  body  and  bodily  com- 
fort— cannot  meet  the  wants  of  his 
higher  nature  or  satisfy  the  longings 
and  aspirations  of  his  soul.  God 
and  truth  and  love, ,  things  unseen 
and  eternal,  can  alone  supply  his 
deepest  needs.  As  Jesus  said,  "Man 
shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by 
every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of 
the  mouth  of  God." 

To  those  who  deny  these  funda- 
mental truths,  the  following  argu- 
ment has  no  force  or  value.  If,  how 
ever,  we  do  believe  in  a  personal  God 
and  in  our  own  immortality,  then, 
indeed,  it  is  no  difficult  matter  to 
show  that  our  faith  in  the  Bible  as  a 
message  from  Heaven  is  a  Keason- 
able  Faith. 

For  the  sake  of  convenience,  let 
us  divide  the  subject  in  this  way- 
first,  Has  God  given  a  supernatural 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN.  27 

revelation  to  men?  and,  secondly,  If 
He  has  done  so,  is  the  Bible  that 
divine,  supernatural  revelation?  Let 
us  take  up  these  questions  sepa- 
rately: And,  first,  Has  God  given 
man  a  supernatural  revelation  of 
Himself  and  His  will?  I  answer 
that  the  need  for  such  a  revelation 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  it  would 
be  given.  If  it  be  true  that  men  can 
only  reach  their  true  destiny  by 
knowing  God  and  doing  His  will, 
how  necessary  it  is  that  God  should 
in  some  way  make  Himself  and  His 
will  known  to  us? 

If  we  turn  to  nature  for  light  and 
instruction,  we  can  indeed  learn 
much  of  the  power  and  wisdom  of 
the  Creator.  "The  heavens  declare 
the  glory  of  God,  and  tho  firmament 
showeth  His  handiwork,"  but  of  love 
and  mercy,  of  righteousness  and 
duty,  nature  teaches  us  little  or 
nothing.  When,  we  question  her  in 
regard  to  these  things;  when  we 
inquire  concerning  the  disposition 


28  A  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN. 

of  the  Almighty  toward  us;  when 
we  seek  information  about  our  rela- 
tions to  Him,  and  the  duty  He  re- 
quires of  us,  the  answers  which 
nature  gives  are  confused  and  enig- 
matical, like  the  answers  of  the  old 
heathen  oracles,  which  might  mean 
one  thing  or  the  opposite  thing,  ac- 
cording to  the  wishes  and  prejudices 
of  the  questioner. 

Do  you  ask  nature  whether  God 
regards  us  with  love,  or  hatred,  or 
indifference?  As  you  gaze  with  ad- 
miration upon  the  full -laden  yellow 
wheat,  bending  gracefully  in  the 
summer  breeze,  or  yielding  its  rich 
store  to  the  husbandman;  or,  as  you 
watch  the  silent,  changeful  beauty 
of  earth  and  sky,  when  the  sun  is 
going  down  beyond  distant  hills ;  or, 
as  you  think  of  fragrant  flowers,  and 
luscious  fruits,  and  abundant  har- 
vests— of  all  the  beautiful  and  benefi- 
cent things  which  nature  provides— 
then  indeed  it  does  seem  as  if  she 
proclaimed  with  clear  voice,  in  un- 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN.          29- 

mistakable    tones,   the   great   truth 
that  God  is  Love. 

But  now,  when  we  turn  from  these 
suggestions  of  peace  and  comfort; 
when  we  regard  the  loathsome  ver- 
min, the  poisonous  reptile,  the  fierce 
wild  beast;  when  we  look  upon  na- 
ture in  her  wild,  destructive  moods— 
in  the  tempest,  driving  the  mariner 
upon  a  rocky  coast;  in  the  earth- 
quake, destroying  man  and  his  works ; 
in  the  avalanche,  sweeping  away 
without  mercy  whole  villages  of 
Alpine  peasants;  or  when  we  think 
of  what  nature  can  do  in  her  times 
of  bitterness  and  hard  cruelty— when 
the  pestilence  desolates  the  happiest 
homes;  or  when  the  heavens  with- 
hold the  early  and  the  latter  rains, 
and  the  husbandman's  toil  is  of  no 
avail,  and  the  earth  refuses  to  bring 
forth  her  increase  and  famine  comes 
among  the  people — then  nature  ap- 
pears to  contradict  herself,  and  we 
read  upon  her  stern  countenance 
nothing  of  our  Maker's  love;  but  as 


30  A  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN. 

she  frowns  upon  us,  she  seems  to 
utter  the  awful  message — God  is 
hate. 

So,  again,  if  we  inquire  of  nature 
whether  God  is  just  and  righteous  in 
his  judgments,  the  answer  is  con- 
fused, uncertain,  contradictory  to 
our  ears.  We  see  indeed,  oftentimes, 
the  working  out  of  evil  consequences 
to  those  who  sin;  and  we  see  certain 
virtues  rewarded  with  health  and 
plenty;  but  again  we  look,  and  be- 
hold— the  innocent  are  suffering  with 
the  guilty,  or  the  wicked  are  pros- 
pering in  the  world,  while  the  good 
man  is  in  misery  and  want. 

But  if  external  nature  gives  us  no 
clear  rule  of  life,  no  definite  infor- 
mation of  God  and  of  His  dealings 
with  us,  may  we  not  learn  all  that  is 
needful  for  us  to  know  from  the  light 
of  reason,  and  the  law  written  within 
on  the  heart  and  conscience? 

No  doubt  much  is  given  here;  God 
has  placed  a  witness  of  Himself  in 
every  breast.  There  /.s  a  law  written 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN.  31 

on  the  heart.  The  conscience  is  a 
divine  voice — the  thoughts  do  accuse 
or  else  excuse  each  other.  Ideas  of 
sin  and  of  justice  rise  intuitively  in 
the  mind,  and  in  the  honest  search 
for  truth  many  things  come  to  light 
which  reveal  something  of  the  nature 
and  of  the  will  of  God. 

But  how  dim  and  confused  are  the 
notions  thus  obtained,  and  how  un- 
availing they  are  to  bring  peace  to 
the  troubled  soul.  When  the  con- 
science accuses  of  sin,  and  dark  mis- 
givings arise  about  the  future,  and 
the  heart  trembles  in  fear  of  divine 
wrath,  what  can  reason  tell  you 
of  forgiveness  and  cleansing?  -And 
amid  the  various  different  theories 
of  life  and  duty;  amid  all  the  con- 
flicting views  of  man's  obligations 
and  of  his  destiny,  how  is  the  soul 
to  find  certainty  and  rest? 

No;  the  world  by  wisdom  cannot 
know  God.  And  no  philosopher  has 
ever  been  wise  enough  to  construct 
a  scheme  of  deliverance  from  the 


32  A  MESSAGE  FROM  HE  A  YEN. 

power  of  sin  that  has  any  permanent 
practical  value. 

What  then?  Is  it  possible  that 
God  has  left  us  to  the  guidance  of 
these  flickering  lights  and  inarticu- 
late voices?  With  this  great  need 
crying  in  our  souls;  with  this  press- 
ing necessity  to  know  our  Maker  and 
to  know  His  will,  has  He  left  us  to 
wander  in  darkness  and  perish  in 
ignorance?  Will  He  never  definitely 
and  clearly  speak  to  man  and  har- 
monize the  seemingly  contradictory 
revelations  of  nature?  Will  he  never 
point  out  the  path  by  which  the  race 
may  arrive  at  a  higher  and  nobler 
state  of  existence? 

These  are  questions  which  rise  in 
the  human  mind  in  all  ages,  and  the 
instinctive  answer  which  the  univer- 
sal human  heart  gives  to  them  is, 
that  there  is,  that  there  must  be  such 
a  direct  supernatural  revelation. 

It  is  this  natural  and  universal 
expectation  of  a  definite  and  positive 
-communication  from  Heaven  that 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  HE  A  YEN.  33 

has  led  men  to  put  faith  in  magicians 
and  astrologers  and  soothsayers.  It 
was  this  that  gave  the  Oracles  of 
Greece  their  influence  in  the  ancient 
world.  It  is  this  instinctive  belief— 
this  belief  that  the  Heavens  are  not 
brass — this  belief  that  God  will  send 
a  message  to  His  intelligent  crea- 
tures— it  is  this  that  accounts  for  all 
heathen  religions,  with  their  fetiches 
and  sacrifices,  their  altars  and 
priests;  and  it  is  this  that  in  Chris- 
tian lands  leads  people  who  deny 
the  Bible  to  believe  in  dreams  and 
omens,  and  to  resort  to  clairvoyants, 
and  fortune-tellers  and  spiritual  me- 
diums. 

Now,  when  we  find  a  belief  uni- 
versal, in  all  ages  and  among  all  races 
of  men,  we  may  be  sure  that  it  points 
to  some  fact  of  vast  and  universal 
interest.  This  is  one  of  the  great 
arguments  for  the  being  of  God. 
Men  may  and  do  differ  as  to  the 
nature  of  God,  but  that  there  is  a 
God,  all  tribes  and  generations  of  the 


34  A  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN. 

human  race  have  asserted.  Now,  if 
there  is  no  fact  to  correspond  to  this 
idea,  where  did  the  idea  come  from? 
How  does  it  happen  that  the  Bush- 
men of  Africa,  and  the  Esquimaux 
of  Labrador,  and  the  most  enlight- 
ened nations  of  Europe  and  America 
all  agree  in  the  firm,  unshakable  be- 
lief that  there  is  a  God?  We  feel 
that  the  only  explanation  of  this  uni- 
versal belief  is  to  be  found  in  its 
truth. 

And  in  the  s'ame  way,  the  fact  that 
the  belief  in  revelation  is  universal 
is  strong  evidence  that  there  is  a 
revelation. 

But  if  it  be  conceded  that  there  is 
nothing  incredible  in  the  fact  of  a 
supernatural  revelation;  that  the  Cre- 
ator can,  if  He  chooses,  communicate 
His  will  to  His  creatures;  and  if  it  be 
still  further  admitted  that  the  great 
need  and  the  universal  expectation  of 
such  a  message  make  it,  to  say  the 
least,  highly  probable  that  He  has 
done  so;  then  our  second  question 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  PIE  A  YEN.  85 

remains — "Is  the  Bible  that  Mes- 
sage?" Is  it  indeed,  and  no  other, 
the  Word  of  God?  How  do  we  know 
that  its  contents  were  revealed  from 
Heaven?  May  we  not  find  a  divine 
message  in  other  books  which  claim 
to  be  inspired? 

These  are  certainly  fair  questions 
—questions  which  it  is  well  to  ask, 
and  which  should  be  thoughtfully 
considered  and  carefully  answered. 

No  intelligent  Christian  need  be 
afraid  to  examine  the  foundations  of 
his  faith.  If  there  is  no  good  reason 
for  accepting  the  Bible,  then  every 
honest  man  ought  to  reject  it.  If  its 
claims  to  be  the  Word  of  God  are 
not  well  founded,  then  it  is  folly  to 
take  it  for  our  guide,  or  to  build  any 
hope  upon  its  promises. 

Without  attempting  any  elaborate 
or  exhaustive  argument  to  prove  the 
divine  origin  of  the  scriptures,  I  wish 
simply  to  call  attention  to  two  facts 
which  point  that  way,  and  I  beg  of 
you  to  follow  out,  in  your  own  minds, 


36  A  MESSAGE  FROM  HE  A  YEN. 

the  line  of  thought  which  they  sug- 
gest. 

The  first  fact  is,  that  the  Bible 
touches  upon  and  covers  the  very 
points  which  we  most  need  to  know, 
and  which  we  would  naturally  expect 
a  divine  revelation  to  contain. 

We  have  spoken  of  universal  ideas, 
as  indicating  that  there  must  be  some 
corresponding  reality  of  immense 
importance  to  all  men.  But  we  also 
noticed  that  these  universal  ideas  are 
of  the  most  general  and  indefinite 
character,  and  never  include  those 
particulars  and  details  which,  for  our 
eternal  well-being,  it  is  essential  that 
we  should  know.  Now,  if  there  be 
a  supernatural  revelation  at  all,  is  it 
not  certain  that  it  will  give  us  just 
those  particulars — that,  indeed,  the 
filling  out  of  these  universal  ideas, 
which  are  of  such  surpassing  interest 
to  us,  will  be  the  one  grand  design 
of  a  message  from  Heaven? 

Thus  the  idea  of  God  is  universal; 
but  who  is  God?  What  are  His  attri- 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN.  37 

butes?  What  is  His  disposition  to- 
wards us?  Does  He  love  His  crea- 
tures, or  hate  them?  Does  He  regard 
us  as  a  father  regards  his  children, 
or  as  a  taskmaster  regards  his  slaves, 
or  is  He  altogether  indifferent  to  our 
welfare?  How  can  we  approach 
Him?  With  what  rites  should  He 
"be  worshipped? 

To  these  questions,  nature  and  rea- 
son, which  give  us  the  bare  idea  of 
God,  can  yield  no  answer.  But, 
surely,  if  there  be  a  st^per-natural  rev- 
elation, we  shall  find  the  answer 
there.  Surely  the  first  thing  we 
would  look  for  in  a  message  from 
Heaven  would  be  some  definite  infor- 
mation on  these  important  points. 

Again,  the  idea  of  right  and  wrong- 
is  a  universal  idea.  All  men,  the 
world  over,  make  a  distinction  in 
morals.  No  tribe  of  men  has  yet 
been  discovered,  however  ignorant 
and  degraded,  that  does  not  consider 
some  acts  right  and  others  wrong. 
Yet  while  all,  without  exception, 


38  A  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN. 

recognize  the  distinction,  they  differ 
widely  as  to  its  application,  because 
nature  gives  us  no  sure  standard,  no 
rule  of  righteousness;  so  that  the 
Hindoo  mother  thinks  it  right  to 
throw  her  babe  into  the  Ganges  river; 
and  the  Thugs  of  India  regard  mur- 
der as  a  noble  and  praiseworthy  act; 
and  the  American  Indian  is  troubled 
in  conscience  and  convicted  of  sin, 
if  he  has  no  human  scalps  to  hang 
upon  his  belt.  In  some  lands,  lying 
is  a  virtue,  and  the  best  liar  is  the 
worthiest  man;  and  in  others,  the 
expert  thief  is  the  most  highly  re- 
garded. 

Nor  are  these  confusions  and  con- 
tradictions to  be  found  only  among 
the  ignorant  and  superstitious,  but 
even  the  wisest  and  most  enlightened 
ethical  teachers,  w^ho  have  had  only 
the  light  of  nature  to  guide  them, 
have  come  far  short  of  any  consist- 
ent and  universal  standard  of  morals. 
Aristotle,  and  Cicero,  and  Socrates, 
and  Gautama,  and  Confucius,  the 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN.  39 

names  which  represent  the  high- 
est attainments  of  the  natural  man, 
are  fatally  inconsistent,  not  only 
with  each  other,  but  each  with  him- 
self. In  all  their  moral  systems, 
true  and  important  principles  are 
omitted,  while  false  or  puerile  ones 
are  given  a  prominent  place. 

Thus,  while  nature  reveals  to  us 
the  fact  that  there  is  a  difference 
between  right  and  wrong,  she  does 
not  enable  us  to  know  the  right  from 
the  wrong.  And  yet  it  is  surely  of 
vital  importance  to  us  to  obtain  this 
knowledge,  and,  therefore,  is  it  not 
certain  that  a  message  from  Heaven, 
if  there  be  such,  will  contain  the 
instruction  we  need  upon  this  point? 

A  third  universal  idea  is  that  of  a 
future  state  of  rewards  and  punish- 
ments. This  idea  is  closely  related 
to  the  one  we  have  just  considered, 
and  is  as  universal  as  that.  Having 
the  idea  of  sin,  men  have  the  idea  of 
retribution.  There  is  an  expectation 
of  a  coming  judgment,  which  pre- 


40  .1  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN. 

vails  everywhere,  and  always  has 
prevailed  among  men. 

Yet  how  to  escape  misery,  and 
how  to  secure  happiness  in  the  life 
to  come;  how  to  get  rid  of  sin,  and 
how  to  avoid  its  consequences;  what 
we  must  do  to  be  saved — upon  all 
this  nature  throws  no  clear  light; 
and  so  we  see  men  resorting  to  all 
sorts  of  absurd  rites  and  ceremonies 
to  placate  the  offended  deity,  to  in- 
duce him  to  put  away  his  displeasure; 
and  sacrifices  are  offered,  and  pen- 
ances are  performed,  and  praying 
machines  are  turned,  for  the  purpose 
of  quieting  the  conscience  and  get- 
ting rid  of  the  oppressive  burden  of 
sin. 

So,  too,  plans  are  proposed  by  wise 
men  and  philosophers  for  overcom- 
ing the  power  of  sin  and  purifying 
society  by  means  of  education,  or 
legal  enactment,  or  social  reforma- 
tion. But  sin  remains,  and  the  sense 
of  guilt  and  ill -desert  remains,  and 
the  burden  of  a  dark  foreboding 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  HE  A  YEN.  41 

presses  upon  the  soul.  Nature,  while 
revealing  the  fact  of  sin,  provides  no 
remedy,  brings  no  relief. 

Can  we  doubt,  then,  that  if  our' 
Maker  shall  see  fit  to  give  us  any 
supernatural  revelation,  it  will  have 
much  to  say  of  salvation  from  sin? 
Will  it  not  be  sure  to  teach  us  how 
to  obtain  righteousness?  Will  it  not 
bring  life  and  immortality  to  light, 
and  point  out  the  path  by  which  we 
can  escape  from  the  power  of  evil, 
and  secure  personal  holiness  and 
everlasting  life? 

Is  not  this  a  true  account  of  what 
we  need — of  what  we  have  a  right 
to  expect  in  a  supernatural  revela- 
tion, if  we  have  one  at  all?  And 
now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  just 
upon  these  three  great  subjects,  in 
which  all  men  are  by  nature  deeply 
interested,  that  the  Bible  discourses. 
From  beginning  to  end  its  themes 
are  GOD,  and  MORALITY  and  SALVA- 
TION. 

The  Bible  assumes  the  reality,  the 


42  A  MESSAGE  FROM  HE  A  YEN. 

truth,  of  these  universal  ideas,  and 
then  proceeds  to  fill  them  out  in  all 
necessary  details.  Here  we  are  told 
all  about  God  that  we  need  to  know. 
And  what  a  representation  it  is— 
glorious  majesty,  unfailing  wisdom, 
incorruptible  justice,  fatherly  love, 
tender  pity.  Such  is  the  God  of  the 
Bible — a  being  of  infinite  perfections. 
Here,  also,  are  laid  down  universal 
principles  of  morality;  principles 
which  are  summed  up  in  the  com- 
prehensive law,  "Thou  shalt  love 
the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart, 
and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself," — a  law 
which  can  be  applied  as  a  rule  of  con- 
duct in  all  conceivable  circumstances 
and  under  all  imaginable  conditions. 
And  above  all,  here  is  revealed  ONE 
who  is  not  only  in  His  own  life  a  per- 
fect illustration  of  this  perfect  law, 
but  is  also  declared  to  be  a  compe- 
tent deliverer  from  the  power  of  sin, 
and  a  mediator  between  God  and 
man,  able  to  save  to<  the  uttermost 
all  who  come  unto  God  by  Him. 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  HE  A  YEN.          43 

Thus  we  find  in  the  Bible  an  an- 
swer to  the  most  anxious  question- 
ings of  the  soul.  We  find  informa- 
tion concerning  the  very  things  of 
which  we  would  expect  a  message 
from  Heaven  to  inform  us.  This  is 
the  first  fact  which  seems  to  vindicate 
the  claim  of  the  Bible  to  be  divinely 
inspired. 

The  second  fact  is  this:  That  the 
acceptance  of  the  Bible  as  divine, 
and  careful  obedience  to  its  precepts, 
lead  to  the  very  best  results  in  human 
society. 

Error  and  falsehood,  the  world 
over  and  in  all  human  experience, 
inevitably  work  misery  and  degra- 
dation. False  principles  of  life, 
systems  founded  upon  lies  and  deceit, 
must  lead  to  darkness  and  death. 
And  certainly  if  the  Bible  be  a  lie; 
if  its  answers  to  our  questions  are 
false;  if  it  is  a  mere  human  inven- 
tion, while  claiming  to  be  a  revelation 
from  Heaven — such  a  stupendous 
lie,  touching,  as  it  does,  such  vital 


44  A  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN. 

points,  must  result  in  confusion 
worse  confounded  to  all  who  are 
deceived  by  it. 

But  this  is  not  the  effect  of  faith 
in  the  Bible.  On  the  contrary,  we 
see  that  men  are  made  better  and 
nobler  and  purer,  and  more  intelli- 
gent, and  more  useful,  and  more 
loving,  just  in  proportion  to  the 
heartiness  with  which  they  accept 
this  book,  and  the  consistency  with 
which  they  make  it  the  rule  and 
guide  of  their  life.  And  we  see  that 
society  becomes  enlightened  and 
moral  and  prosperous,  just  in  propor- 
tion as  the  Bible  and  the  teachings 
of  the  Bible  are  honored  and  obeyed. 
Is  it  probable  that  such  results  would 
follow  from  the  propagation  of  a 
fraud  and  a  lie? 

To  sum  up:  We  find  a  pressing 
necessity  in  the  nature  and  condition 
of  men  for  a  supernatural,  divine 
revelation,  or  message  from  Heaven. 
And  we  find  also  a  universal  expec- 
tation of  and  belief  in  the  reality  of 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN.          45- 

such  a  message.  Then,  when  we 
come  to  examine  the  Bible,  we  find 
it  dealing  with  and  answering  the 
very  questions  which  men,  by  na- 
ture, are  led  to  ask  most  urgently. 
And  we  find  that  wherever  those 
answers  which  the  Bible  gives  are 
accepted  as  true  and  divine,  and  are 
consistently  acted  upon,  there  the 
purest  morality,  the  clearest  light, 
and  the  highest  freedom  prevail.  But 
how  can  we  account  for  all  this,  un- 
less the  Bible  is  what  it  claims  to  be, 
a  message  from  Heaven? 

Is  it  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
any  merely  human  production  could 
effect  all  this?  What  other  book  is 
like  it?  What  could  take  its  place? 
Surely  the  Bible  alone  is  God's  word. 
It  is  Our  Father's  Message  to  His 
children.  It  is  a  treasure  above  all 
earthly  wealth — a  treasure  inexhaus- 
tible. Indeed,  the  more  we  use  it, 
the  richer  it  grows,  and  in  its  deep 
mines  of  precious  truth,  we  may  dig 
and  search  all  our  lives,  and  every 


46  A  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN. 

day  find  something  new  for  our  com- 
fort or  our  instruction. 


III. 
The  Everlasting  Kingdom. 

- 


III. 

HEB.  xii,  28.  "Wherefore  we,  receiving  a  kingdom 
which  cannot  be  moved,  let  us  have  grace  whereby 
we  may  serve  God  acceptably  with  reverence  and 
godly  fear." 

THE  history  and  triumphs  of  the 
Christian  Church  indicate  its  divine 
origin  and  spiritual  vitality. 

The  proposition  is  not  that  because 
the  church  is  a  great  and  successful 
institution,  therefore  it  is  of  God. 
We  all  know  that  mere  earthly  suc- 
cess is  no  proof  of  the  divinity  of 
Christianity.  Whether  a  religion  is 
of  God,  or  of  the  devil,  cannot  be  de- 
cided by  a  majority  vote.  But  the 
character,  the  quality  of  the  success 
which  a  religion  achieves  does  go  far 
toward  indicating  its  truth  and  its 
value. 

The  kind  of  obstacles  it  has  sur- 
mounted; the  nature  of  the  difficul- 


50    THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM. 

ties  it  has  encountered  and  overcome ; 
the  general  effect  upon  mankind  of 
its  real  triumphs,  and  the  methods 
by  which  these  triumphs  have  been 
won,  will  necessarily  influence  our 
judgment  of  its  claims.  Let  us,  then, 
rapidly  review  the  history  of  the 
church,  and  the  accepted  facts  of 
that  history  will  vindicate  to  every 
candid  mind  the  assertion  that  the 
Christian  Church  is  the  Church  of 
the  Living  God. 

In  the  text,  as  in  many  other  places 
in  the  New  Testament,  the  church  is 
spoken  of  as  a  Kingdom.  But  this 
idea  of  a  Kingdom  of  God,  a  Heav- 
enly Kingdom  in  the  earth,  did  not 
by  any  means  originate  with  the 
Christian  dispensation,  or  in  the 
teachings  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  This 
radiant  conception  of  a  sublime  mon- 
archy, universal,  divine;  of  an  all- 
powerful  king  reigning  among  men 
in  righteousness  and  love,  is  inter- 
woven in  all  the  texture  of  sacred 
history  and  of  prophecy. 


THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM.        51 

The  ancient  Jewish  theocracy,  and, 
later,  the  Throne  of  David,  were  but 
types  and  f or e-shado wings  of  the 
imperishable,  human-divine  power 
yet  to  come.  Through  long  genera- 
tions devout  and  godly  men,  wearied 
with  the  confusions  of  earth,  had 
hoped  and  prayed  for  the  establish- 
ment of  this  promised  Kingdom,  and 
had  anxiously  looked  for  its  appear- 
ing. Abraham  foresaw  it  and  was 
glad.  David,  in  his  inimitable  lyrics, 
had  sung  of  its  glories.  Isaiah,  in 
ringing  tones,  had  declared  that  it 
would  surely  come.  Jeremiah  had 
consoled  himself  and  the  faithful  of 
his  time,  in  the  midst  of  the  miser- 
ies and  injustice  to  which  they  were 
exposed,  with  the  same  hope — "A 
King  shall  reign  and  prosper,  and 
shall  execute  judgment  and  justice 
in  the  Earth."  Micah  had  told  of 
its  glory  and  its  extent,  and  Daniel 
had  explicitly  declared:  "The  God 
of  Heaven  shall  set  up  a  Kingdom 
which  shall  never  be  destroyed;  it 


52        THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM. 

shall  stand  forever."  Nay,  he  had 
gone  further,  and  shown  that  the 
"Lord's  saints"  were  to  constitute 
this  Kingdom,  and  that  one  like  the 
Son  of  Man  was  to  reign  in  it.  And, 
finally,  the  immediate  herald  and 
fore-runner  of  the  King  himself  ap- 
peared, and  John  the  Baptist  an- 
nounced, "The  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
is  at  hand." 

Thus,  in  proclaiming  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Kingdom,  Jesus  and  His 
Apostles  introduced  no  new  and 
strange  idea,  but  simply  declared 
the  actual  fulfillment  of  the  types 
and  prophecies  of  many  centuries. 

But  the  special  point  in  regard  to 
to    this    Kingdom    which    I    would 
emphasize,  is  that  characteristic  of 
it  which  is  mentioned  in  the  text— 
namely,  that  it  "cannot  be  moved." 

This  Kingdom  is  an  everlasting 
Kingdom.  Earthly  thrones  arise  and 
disappear.  Earthly  powers  decay. 
The  great  monarchies  of  former  days 
have  passed  utterly  away,  The  pride 


THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM.        53 

and  pomp  of  the  mightiest  princes 
cannot  long  withstand  the  destruc- 
tive influences  that  sooner  or  later 
are  sure  to  undermine  every  earthly 
thing;  but  the  Kingdom  which  Christ 
established  endureth  forever.  The 
external  form  of  the  Kingdom  may 
change;  the  superficial  additions 
which  men  have  made  may  be  swept 
away;  but  the  Kingdom  itself,  its 
King,  its  laws,  its  principles  are  un- 
changeable and  indestructible.  The 
heathen  have  raged. against  it.  The 
kings  of  the  earth  have  set  them- 
selves, and  the  rulers  have  taken 
counsel  together  against-  the  Lord 
and  against  His  Anointed,  and  yet, 
unmoved  amid  all  storms,  unshaken 
by  the  fiercest  assaults,  the  King- 
dom of  God  has  continued,  its  power 
ever  increasing,  and  its  conquests 
extending  on  every  side. 

I.  At  first  the  Jews,  with  bitter 
hatred  and  fanatical  zeal,  tried  to 
strangle  it  at  its  birth;  and  then, 
immediately,  the  mighty  power  of 


54    THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM. 

pagan  Home  was  brought  to  bear 
against  it.  Yet,  although  persecuted 
and  well  nigh  crushed,  though  rav- 
aged with  fire  and  sword,  the  infant 
church,  without  the  aid  of  earthly 
arms,  steadily  advanced,  until  pagan 
Rome  became  Christian  Rome,  and 
the  Emperor  himself  was  proud  to 
be  called  the  "Defender  of  the 
Faith." 

Later  on,  assailed  by  the  wild, 
barbarous  tribes  of  the  heathen 
north,  the  fierce  and  cruel  worship- 
pers of  Woden  and  Thor,  its  appa- 
rent overthrow  was  changed  into 
sublime  triumph,  as  the  victorious 
Gothic  hordes,  who  had  overcome 
the  legions  of  Rome  and  seized  the 
very  throne,  submitted  in  turn  to 
the  all -conquering  power  of  Chris- 
tian truth,  and  the  Kingdom  of  God 
extended  its  boundaries  to  the  north- 
ern shores  of  Europe. 

The  Mohammedan  powers  of  Asia 
next  armed  themselves  against  the 
Kingdom,  and,  for  awhile,  it  seemed 


THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM.        55 

as  if  the  Cross  must  yield  to  the 
Crescent.  Slaying  without  mercy 
all  who  opposed  them,  and  treating 
with  the  utmost  cruelty  those  who 
would  not  abjure  Christianity  and 
accept  the  false  Prophet,  they  pene- 
trated to  the  very  heart  of  Christian 
Europe,  and  held  possession  of  some 
of  the  fairest  lands  and  some  of  the 
richest  cities  on  the  continent,  But 
the  tide  was  rolled  back,  and  now 
all  men  can  see  that  Islamism  has 
had  its  day;  its  glory  and  its  terror 
have  departed,  and  the  vast  Turkish 
empire,  which  has  so  long  embodied 
and  maintained  its  principles,  is 
rapidly  crumbling  to  pieces  under 
the  silent  but  mighty  influences 
which  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  exer- 
cising in  the  affairs  of  men. 

II.  But  this  Kingdom  has  proved 
its  stability  by  withstanding  other 
assailants  no  less  vindictive,  no  less 
powerful  than  these.  From  the  very 
first  the  "wisdom  of  this  world"  has 
arrayed  itself  against  "the  truth," 


56        THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM. 

and  from  one  generation  to  another 
has  renewed  its  attacks  upon  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

As  early  as  the  days  of  Paul  and 
John,  and  for  many  years  after, 
the  different  sects  of  Gnostic  and 
ManichaBan  philosophers,  with  their 
strange  combination  of  Paganism, 
Judaism,  and  Christian  mysticism, 
led  astray  many  foolish  souls,  and, 
at  length,  even  in  the  church  itself, 
absurd  and  mystical  errors  threat- 
ened to  supplant  the  pure  teaching 
of  Scripture  and  to  destroy  the  holy 
power  of  Christ's  kingdom  of  truth. 
But  neo-platonism  is  a  thing  of  the 
past.  Gnosticism  no  longer  endan- 
gers the  integrity  of  Christian  doc- 
trine. The  Manichaeans  exist  as  but 
a  name  in  history,  while  the  Word 
of  the  Lord,  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven, 
endureth,  and  shall  endure  forever. 

Again,  in  the  thirteenth  and  fif- 
teenth centuries,  when  the  world  had 
awakened  from  the  profound  sleep 
of  the  dark  ages;  when  learning  be- 


THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM.        57 

gan  to  prevail  in  Europe,  and  the 
ancient  classics  were  studied,  and 
art  and  poetry  were  revived,  men 
thought  that  they  could  do  without 
Christianity — that  they  had  found  a 
new  and  better  way.  The  old  truths 
were  laughed  at,,  as  foolish  fables, 
and  the  world's  wisdom  declared 
that  the  sweetness  and  light,  the 
beauty  and  strength  contained  in  the 
literature  of  Greece  and  Rome  were 
sufficient  for  the  regeneration  of  men, 
and  that  now  Christianity,  with  other 
superstitions,  must  disappear,  and 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  be  dismissed 
as  one  of  the  great  infatuations  of 
the  race,  of  which  men,  with  their 
new  enlightenment,  ought  to  be 
ashamed. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  the  grave 
and  earnest  Deism  of  such  men  as 
Hume,  in  England,  and  Lessing,  in 
Germany,  set  itself  to  overthrow  the 
Kingdom  by  argument  and  philoso- 
phy, while  the  shallow  and  frivolous 
materialism  of  Bolingbroke  and  Vol- 


58    THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM. 

taire  and  Tom  Paine  sought  its  des- 
truction by  wit  and  ridicule. 

But  in  less  than  a  hundred  years 
the  enemies  of  the  Kingdom  had 
taken  up  a  new  position,  and  were 
making  their  attacks  on  a  different 
ground;  and  then  serious  and  rever- 
ential skepticism  became  fashion- 
able, and  the  sentimentalism  of  Re- 
nan,  with  its  fascinating  beauty  of 
style,  was  brought  forward  as  the 
complete  refutation  of  Christian  the- 
ology, and  many  weak  minds  were 
turned  from  the  truth. 

And  now,  in  these  last  days,  come 
the  apostles  of  science.  Carried 
away  with  the  conceit  of  their  dis- 
coveries in  the  realms  of  natural 
law;  puffed  up  by  the  success  of  their 
investigations;  blinded  by  their  ex- 
clusive devotion  to  material  things, 
they  declare,  with  great  flourish  of 
trumpets,  that  to  them,  at  length, 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  must  yield, 
and  scientific  culture  must  be  ac- 
cepted as  a  substitute  for  Christian- 


THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM.        59 

ity,  for  securing  the  progress  and 
salvation  of  humanity. 

But,  above  nature  is  the  super- 
natural; beyond  the  material  is  the 
spiritual;  beyond  the  world  and  the 
stars  is  God;  and  there  is  no  more 
possibility  that  the  scientific  infidel- 
ity of  to-day  will  prevail,  than  that 
Hell  will  conquer  Heaven.  The 
Kingdom  of  God  is  an  everlasting 
Kingdom,  and  true  science  can  only 
help  to  strengthen  its  foundations, 
and  to  extend  its  boundaries.  We 
hear  much  talk  of  the  conflict  be- 
tween science  and  religion.  There 
is  no  such  conflict.  The  man  of 
science  may  contend  against  the 
Bible;  and  the  ecclesiastic  may  pro- 
test against  giving  attention  to  scien- 
tific facts;  and  so  between  these  two 
men  there  may  be  conflict.  But  the 
scientist  is  not  science,  and  the 
ecclesiastic  is  not  religion,  and  be- 
tween these  two  there  is  the  absolute 
harmony  of  their  common  source, 

Let  science,  then,  pursue  her  in- 


63        THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM. 

vestigations,  and  we  will  bid  her 
God-speed.  Let  her  bring  forth  all 
light,  and  all  knowledge,  and  read 
to  us  all  the  record  of  the  rocks  and 
of  the  stars,  and  she  will  but  build 
up  the  Kingdom  of  God.  True 
science  is  the  handmaid  of  religion, 
and  every  fact  is  in  exact  and  beau- 
tiful harmony  with  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity. 

Believing,  as  we  do,  that  the  King- 
dom of  God  not  only  includes  the 
past  and  the  present,  but  is  destined 
with  ever-widening  influence  to  em- 
brace the  unfolding  future,  we  ex- 
pect, with  full  assurance,  that  all 
true  discoveries  which  men  -may 
make,  in  the  earth  or  in  the  heavens, 
will  only  help-  to  glorify  our  King, 
and  to  justify  our  faith  in  Jesus  as 
"Lord  over  all,  blessed  forever." 

III.  But  besides  having  survived 
the  persecution,  and  overcome  the 
opposition  of  earthly  rulers  and 
kingdoms;  besides  having  withstood 
the  more  subtle  assaults  of  vain 


THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM.        61 

philosophy  and  "science,  falsely  so 
called,"  the  Kingdom  of  God  has 
manifested  its  vitality  and  given 
assurance  of  its  permanence,  by 
purging  itself  of  the  corruptions  and 
errors  which  have  at  times  threat- 
ened to  eat  out  its  life,  and  utterly 
to  destroy  its  influence  in  the  world. 
This  is  the  strongest  and  most  con- 
vincing proof  of  durability.  The 
power  of  self-reformation  indicates 
a  real  vitality. 

Before  the  time  of  Martin  Luther, 
the  church  had  sunk  to  the  lowest 
depths  of  depravity.  The  light  of 
truth  had  become  very  dim;  the  fra- 
grance of  virtue  very  faint.  Mor- 
ality and  religion  were  most  unnat- 
urally divorced. 

Open,  shameless  licentiousness, 
and  cruelty  and  dishonesty  pre- 
vailed everywhere.  The  Popes  were 
tyrants  and  murderers ;  the  cardinals 
were  libertines  and  intriguers;  the 
bishops  lived  in  luxurious,  sinful 
pleasure;  the  priests  were  idle,  vic- 


<>2         THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM. 

ious,  good-for-nothing;  the  people, 
corrupted  by  the  public  sale  of 
Indulgences  for  all  sorts  of  sins, 
degraded  by  the  wretched  idolatry 
to  which  their  religion  had  degene- 
rated, and  led  on  by  the  example  of 
their  spiritual  shepherds,  were  super- 
stitious ,  depraved ,  immoral >  In  deed , 
the  Kingdom  of  God  had  apparently 
become  the  corrupter  of  mankind. 

Has,  then,  this  Kingdom  proved 
itself  a  failure?  Are  its  claims 
false?  Is  it  unequal  to  the  task 
assigned  it?  And  must  it  now  be 
swept  away  to  make  room  for  some 
new  instrument  for  the  help  of  poor 
humanity?  Or,  if  it  be  possible  to 
restore  it  to  its  original  purity  and 
make  it  effective  for  good,  is  it  nec- 
essary that  the  Almighty  should 
bring  to  bear  upon  it,  from  without, 
some  unique,  miraculous  energy? 

No;  it  is  still  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
Nor  has  it  ever  been  deserted  by  its 
King;  and,  beneath  all  the  corrup- 
tion, and  superstition,  and  ignorance 


THE  EVERLASTING!  KINGDOM.    6$ 

of  those  sad  times,  vital  forces  are 
at  work — vital  forces  which  are  in- 
herent in  the  very  essence  of  the 
Kingdom.  Silently  the  truth  is  win- 
ning its  way  in  many  humble  souls; 
until,  presently,  from  the  very 
heart  of  the  church,  the  light  shines 
forth,  and  a  clear,  strong  voice  is 
heard  asserting  the  supremacy  of 
Jesus  Christ  and  declaring  the  true 
principles  of  his  Kingdom. 

And  so  the  Reformation  began; 
and  righteousness  and  truth  and  the 
pure  worship  of  God  were  once  more 
established  among  men — not  by  the 
application  of  any  new  force;  not  by 
any  external  pressure;  but  by  the 
revival  of  that  immortal  divine  en- 
ergy already  and  always  in  the 
Kingdom,  itself. 

Thus,  also,  in  the  last  century, 
when  worldliness  and  loose  mor- 
als, indifference  and  skepticism 
abounded  in  the  church;  when  the 
Christian  religion  seemed  to  be  little 
more  than  a  dry  theology,  with  na 


64        THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM. 

practical  bearing  on  the  daily  life  of 
those  who  professed  and  called 
themselves  Christians;  when  the 
influence  of  the  Kingdom  of  God 
in  the  affairs  of  men  could  scarcely 
be  discerned;  then  it  was  that  from 
out  the  bosom  of  the  apparently 
lifeless  church  came  Whitefield, 
Komaine,  Toplady  and  Wesley,  as- 
serting and  proving  the  undying 
vital  power  of  Christian  truth.  And, 
in  consequence,  the  slave  trade  was 
overthrown,  prisons  were  reformed, 
Sunday  -  schools  were  established, 
Bible  societies  were  organized,  mis- 
sionaries were  sent  to  all  parts  of 
the  world:  all  the  forms  of  mod- 
ern Christian  activity,  which  have 
accomplished  such  wonders,  were 
brought  into  being;  and  Christian- 
ity became  again  a  real  force  in 
the  world.  And  all  this  was  the 
result,  not  of  the  preaching  of 
any  new  truth,  not  of  the  intro- 
duction of  any  new  and  unknown 
^element  into  the  Kingdom  of  God: 


THE  EVERLASTING  KINGLOM.        65 

it  followed  naturally  and  necessa- 
rily upon  the  reassertion  of  the 
same  old  truths  and  principles  upon 
which  the  Kingdom  was  founded, 
and  which  have  constituted  its  real 
essence  throughout  all  the  ages. 

Thus,  the  Kingdom  of  God  has 
conquered  every  foe — surmounted 
every  obstacle.  Hostile  armies,  in- 
tellectual power,  internal  corruption, 
have  been  unable  to  withstand  its 
glorious  progress.  Mighty,  irresist- 
able,  indestructible,  it  has  advanced, 
"fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun, 
and  terrible  as  an  army  with  ban- 
ners," until  to-day  its  crucified  King, 
the  peasant  of  Galilee,  wields  an 
authority  and  exercises  an  influence 
over  mankind  far  greater  and  more 
extensive  than  any  earthly  ruler  ever 
dreamed  of. 

Have  we  not,  then,  every  reason 
to  believe  the  word  of  prophecy,  and 
to  expect  confidently  the  "sounding 
of  the  seventh  angel,"  and  the  "great 
voices  in  Heaven  saying:  The  king- 


66    THE  EVERLASTING  KINGDOM. 

doms  of  this  world  are  become  the 
kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his 
Christ;  and  he  shall  reign  forever  and 
ever "? 

Surely  we  have  received  "a  King- 
dom which  cannot  be  moved."  We 
are  the  subjects  of  a  King  whose 
throne  is  everlasting. 

Amid  all  discouragements,  under 
all  adverse  circumstances;  confused, 
blinded,  perplexed,  it  may  be,  in  the 
tumult  of  this  evil  world,  and  by  the 
smoke  and  dust  of  the  mighty  battle 
with  the  powers  of  darkness,  let  us 
still  keep  our  faith  firm  in  this  great 
truth;  and  with  undaunted  courage 
and  high  hope  and  unshaken  con- 
fidence in  the  King  of  Kings,  join 
in  the  Psalmist's  triumphant  cry, 
"The  Lord  reigneth,  let  the  earth 
rejoice!"  Let  us  be  faithful,  loyal 
subjects,  serving  our  King  "accept- 
ably, with  reverence  and  godly  fear," 
that  we  may  share  in  those  glorious 
victories  of  His  Kingdom  with  which 
all  the  future  is  crowded. 


IV. 
What  Think  Ye  of  Christ? 


IV. 

JOHN  i,  14.  "  And  the  Word  was  made  ( became) 
flesh  and  dwell  among  us,  (and  we  beheld  his 
glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the 
Father,)  full  of  grace  and  truth." 

MATTHEW  begins  his  gospel  by 
tracing  the  human  genealogy  of  Our 
Lord  to  Abraham,  the  father  of  the 
Jews,  showing  that  He  was  the  son 
of  David,  the  long-promised  Messiah. 
Mark  begins  with  a  reference  to  the 
prophets  and  then  immediately  in- 
troduces John  the  Baptist  as  the 
fore-runner  of  Christ;  and  Jesus 
himself  at  once  appears,  a  full-grown 
man,  to  be  baptized  in  the  Jordan. 
Luke,  beginning  with  the  annuncia- 
tion to  Zacharias,  proceeds  in  a  series 
of  exquisite  lyrics,  to  give  the  cir- 
cumstances connected  with  the  con- 
ception and  birth  of  the  holy  babe, 
and  when  he  comes  to  the  genealogy, 


70         WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST? 

he« traces  it  back  to  Adam,  and  thus 
connects  Jesus  with  the  whole  race 
and  shows  that  he  is  indeed  the  Son 
of  Man.  While  the  gospel  written 
by  John  begins  the  wonderful  story, 
not  in  time,  but  in  eternity,  in  t hat- 
immeasurably  remote  period  before 
the  foundation  of  the  world,  or  ever 
the  sun  and  the  stars  had  any  being. 
When  we  take  up  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  read  the  first  verse,  the 
opening  sentence  of  Revelation — "In 
the  beginning  God  created  the  heav- 
ens and  the  earth,"  the  mind  is  car- 
ried back  over  the  long  centuries  of 
human  history — through  the  dim 
ages  of  prehistoric  times — back  to 
those  vast  eras  of  geologic  trans- 
formation, during  which  the  earth 
was  being  prepared,  slowly  and  pain- 
fully, with  great  throes  and  upheav- 
als, for  the  habitation  of  man — still 
further  back,  through  untold  myri- 
ads of  years  to  that  mysterious  time 
when  the  earth  was  "without  form 
and  void,  and  darkness  was  upon 


WHAT  THINK   YE  OF  CHRIST?        71 

the  face  of  the  deep;"  nor  yet  is  the 
beginning  reached,  for  who  can  say 
that  this  same  earth  had  not  already 
existed  for  countless  ages,  and 
through  many  various  changes  of 
form  and  use,  before  it  was  reduced 
to  this  chaotic  condition?  At  last, 
wearied  with  the  effort  to  reduce  the 
infinite  to  our  finite  measurement  of 
time,  the  mind  rests  in  the  eternal 
and  uncreated  existence  of  GOD. 

There  we  find  the  beginning  of  the 
world,  and  there  we  must  find  the 
beginning  of  thought.  And  now 
when  we  turn  to  the  first  sentences 
of  John's  gospel,  we  learn  what  is 
the  true  starting  point  of  Christian- 
ity. It  does  not  begin  with  the  birth 
in  Bethlehem;  nor  with  the  preach- 
ing of  John  the  Baptist;  nor  with 
the  inspired  utterances  of  Messianic 
prophets;  nor  with  Abraham;  nor 
yet  with  Adam,  but  Christianity 
begins  in  the  beginning.  It  begins 
with  God. 

For  when  Jesus  was  conceived  by 


72        WHAT  THINK   YE  OF  CHRIST? 

the  Holy  Ghost  and  born  of  the  Vir- 
gin Mary,  THE  WORD  became  flesh, 
and,  "In  the  beginning  was  the  Word, 
and  the  Word  was  with  God  and  the 
Word  was  God.  The  same  was  in 
the  beginning  with  God.  All  things 
were  made  by  Him,  and  without 
Him  was  not  anything  made  that 
was  made.  In  Him  was  life,  and 
the  life  was  the  light  of  men." 

So  it  was  that  the  Eternal  Word, 
the  Almighty  Creator,  the  Fountain 
of  Light  and  the  Source  of  Life, 
submitted  Himself  to  the  limitations 
of  humanity.  Not  regarding  His 
equality  with  God  a  thing  to  be 
grasped,  He  emptied  Himself  and 
took  the  form  of  a  servant  and  was 
made  in  the  likeness  of  men.  And 
thus,  as  we  look  upon  the  smiling 
infant  cradled  in  Mary's  arms;  as 
we  listen  to  the  boy  talking  so  wisely 
with  the  doctors  in  the  temple;  as 
we  think  of  the  young  carpenter, 
working  at  his  father's  bench  in 
Nazareth;  as  we  follow  the  weary 


WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  C HEIST  f        73 

footsteps  of  the  ''man  of  sorrows" 
"by  the  shores  of  the  Galilean  lake, 
over  the  hill-sides  of  Judaea,  or 
through  Jerusalem's  busy  streets ; 
or  as  we  stand  and  gaze  upon  the 
Crucified,  lifted  up  that  He  might 
draw  all  men  unto  Him,  we  are 
contemplating,  not  merely  a  supe- 
rior man,  not  simply  an  inspired 
prophet,  not  even  the  first  of  created 
beings,  but  the  Creator  Himself— 
God  manifest  in  the  flesh. 

This  is  the  great  mystery  of  the 
Incarnation,  a  mystery,  profound  and 
unfathomable,  the  most  amazing  of 
all  miracles,  appealing,  not  to  the 
senses,  but  to  faith;  not  made  known 
to  us  by  the  testimony  of  men;  not 
discovered  by  the  investigations  of 
reason,  but  revealed  from  Heaven, 
and  proved  to  our  faith  by  the  char- 
acter of  Him  who  declares  Himself 
to  be  the  Son  of  God. 

At  the  very  outset  we  admit  that 
the  Incarnation  is  incomprehensible, 
that  it  cannot  be  explained,  that  the 


74        WHAT  THINK   YE  OF  CHRIST? 

human  mind  cannot  understand  it. 
How  the  Word  could  become  flesh; 
how  Jesus  could  be  perfect  man  and 
at  the  same  time  perfect  God,  we  do 
not  and  cannot  know.  And  all  the 
fine-spun,  subtle  arguments,  and 
hair-splitting  definitions  of  philos- 
ophers and  theologians  cannot  solve 
the  mystery — are  apt,  indeed,  to 
confuse  the  mind  and  to  destroy  the 
simplicity  of  faith. 

Let  us,  therefore,  rather  look  with 
earnest  attention  upon  Jesus  Him- 
self, as  He  stands  before  us  scarred 
with  the  wounds  of  His  crucifixion. 
Let  us  devoutly  listen  to  the  words 
which  fall  from  His  lips,  and  so  our 
doubts  will  be  silenced  and  we  shall 
exclaim,  as  Thomas  did,  "My  Lord 
and  my  God." 

But  there  are  those  whose  faith  is 
staggered  by  the  greatness  of  the 
mystery.  Because  they  cannot  un- 
derstand the  Incarnation,  because 
they  cannot  explain  it,  they  will  not 
believe  it.  But  surelv  that  is  no 


WHAT  THINK   YE  OF  CHRIST?        75 

reason  for  unbelief.  Can  yon  under- 
stand God?  And  will  yon  therefore 
deny  that  there  is  a  God?  Can  you 
explain  the  universe  and  how  it 
came  into  being?  And  will  you 
therefore  refuse  to  believe  in  the 
existence  of  matter?  Nay;  are  not 
you  yourself  an  incomprehensible 
mystery?  Whence  came  your  im- 
material mind?  How  does  it  act 
through  and  upon  your  material 
body?  What  is  thought?  What 
are  love  and  hope  and  anger  and 
desire?  Can  you  fathom  the  depths 
of  human  nature,  or  analyze  the 
soul  of  man?  And  will  you  there- 
fore say  that  there  is  no  mind,  that 
there  is  no  soul? 

But  if  God  is  a  mystery,  and  the 
world  is  a  mystery,  and  if  humanity 
itself  is  a  mystery,  then  should  we 
not  expect  that  God  coming  into  the 
world,  God  "made  in  the  likeness  of 
men,"  would  be  of  all  mysteries  the 
most  profound  and  inexplicable? 
And  why  should  we  refuse  to  believe 


76        WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST  f 

in  the  God-man,  because  we  cannot 
understand  Him,  any  more  than  we 
refuse  to  believe  in  God  because  w^e 
cannot  understand  Him,  or  any  more 
than  we  refuse  to  believe  in  man 
because  we  cannot  understand  him? 
Nor  is  this  mystery  one  to  w^hich 
the  human  mind  has  any  natural  or 
necessary  aversion.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  idea  of  the  Incarnation  of 
the  Deity  is  prominent  in  almost  all 
the  heathen  mythologies,  and  wo 
trace  its  partial  and  often  grotesque 
development  in  the  false  religions  of 
many  widely  separated  races.  The 
Greeks  and  Romans  attributed  hu- 
man and  even  brutal  features  and 
characteristics  to  their  gods.  And 
Jupiter  and  Mercury  and  a  host  of 
other  deities  often  walked  the  earth 
and  took  part  in  the  affairs  of  men. 
The  Hindoo  believes  that  already  his 
great  god  Vishnu  has  been  nine 
times  incarnate,  and  that  yet  there 
is  to  be  a  tenth  incarnation  of  that 
deity,  when  all  the  workers  of  in- 


WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST?        77 

iquity  shall  be  destroyed.  While  in 
the  religious  myths  of  the  ancient 
Toltec  inhabitants  of  Mexico  we 
even  find  the  story  of  a  miraculous 
conception  and  birth  of  their  supreme 
god;  born,  however,  not  as  a  babe, 
but  as  a  mighty  warrior,  full  grown 
and  completely  armed. 

All  these  confused  suggestions  of 
tho  incarnation,  weak,  foolish,  con- 
tradictory as  they  are,  yet  indicate 
the  longing  of  the  human  mind  for 
intercourse  with  God,  and  the  deep, 
though  vague,  conviction  that  God 
may  and  does  condescend  to  man's 
estate,  in  order  that  that  intercourse 
may  be  secured.  And  when  we  turn 
to  the  Bible  account  of  the  origin  of 
man,  and  of  his  relation  to  God,  we 
see  how  natural  this  longing  is. 

Here  we  learn  that  man  is  the  off- 
spring of  God;  that  God  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life, 
and  so  made  him  in  His  own  image. 
And  although  fallen  and  depraved 
through  sin,  although  separated  by 


78        WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST? 

disobedience  and  rebellion  from  his 
Father,  man  still  has  a  glimmering 
perception  of  his  divine  kinship,  and 
feels  with  vague  instinctive  yearn- 
ing after  God. 

And  here,  too,  in  this  account  of 
the  creation  of  man  we  find  the  nat- 
ural ground  or  basis  of  that  Incar- 
nation which  is  the  glory  of  our 
Christian  faith.  Being  made  in  the 
divine  image,  and  endowed  with 
God-like  faculties,  his  life  the  very 
in-breathing  of  God,  man  was  de- 
signed and  prepared  from  the  first, 
by  the  original  structure  of  his  soul, 
for  union  with  his  Maker.  A  union 
which  finds  its  complete  realization 
in  the  God-man,  Christ  Jesus. 

Let  us  look  at  this  divine- 
human  person,  as  He  appears  in  the 
gospels.  Let  us  hearken  with  rev- 
erence to  what  He  says  of  Himself, 
and  so  confirm  our  faith  in  the  Incar- 
nate God  and  justify  that  large  hope 
which  every  Christian  may  cherish, 
and  which  makes  his  future  bright 


WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST?        79> 

with  a  glory  like  unto  that  of  his. 
Lord. 

The  historical  Jesus  is  now  uni- 
versally acknowledged.  No  scholar 
is  found  reckless  enough  to  deny 
that  the  main  features  of  the  gospel 
history  are  true.  However  bitterly 
or  however  sadly  the  skeptic 
may  refuse  to  accept  the  super- 
natural and  the  divine  in  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  he  is  compelled  to  admit 
Jesus  Himself  to  a  place  in  history. 
The  footprints  of  the  Galilean 
prophet  are  so  deep,  so  plain  and 
distinct,  even  to  this  day,  that  the 
very  blindness  of  unbelief  cannot 
refuse  to  see  them. 

As  Simeon  held  the  infant  Jesus 
in  his  arms  in  the  temple,  he  de- 
clared that  the  child  was  set  for  a 
sign  that  should  be  spoken  against. 
And  so,  indeed,  He  has  been  a  sign 
from  that  day  to  this.  He  is  a  sign 
to  w^hich  the  eyes  of  men  are  ever 
turned,  whether  they  will  or  no. 
He  may  be  spoken  against,  He  may 


SO        WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST? 

be  reviled,  He  may  be  insulted,  He 
may  be  patronized,  He  may  be  re- 
jected, but  He  cannot  be  ignored. 
There  He  stands,  compelling  the 
attention  of  mankind,  and  forcing 
upon  all  minds  the  question,  "  What 
think  ye  of  Christ?" 

The  man  is  and  must  be  acknowl- 
edged, even  though  the  God  be  de- 
nied. "EcceHomo!"  cries  modern 
unbelief,  and  glorifies  the  ideal 
humanity  of  Jesus;  but  when  we 
would  add  "Ecce  Deus  !"  it  turns 
away  in  pity  or  in  scorn  at  our  super- 
stition. Yet  Jesus  Himself,  this 
ideal  man,  claims  for  Himself,  in 
unmistakable  language,  all  that  we 
claim  for  Him. 

To  the  multitude  at  Jerusalem  He 
declares,  "My  Father  worketh  hith- 
erto and  I  work,"  and  when  the 
Jews  naturally  accept  this  as  an 
assumption  of*  equality  with  God, 
He  does  not  rebuke  them,  or  charge 
them  with  misrepresenting  or  mis- 
understanding Him.  On  the  con- 


WHAT   THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST?       81 

trary,  He  confirms  their  interpre- 
tation of  His  words  by  insisting  that 
all  should  honor  the  Son  even  as 
they  honor  the  Father. 

A  little  later  in  His  ministry  He 
stands  in  the  very  court  of  the  tem- 
ple of  God  and  declares  "Before 
Abraham  was  I  AM,"  which  was  such 
an  unequivocal  claim  to  Godhood 
that  the  people  immediately  rushed 
upon  Him  to  stone  Him  for  blas- 
phemy. Not  long  after,  in  the  same 
place,  He  calmly  asserts,  "I  and  my 
Father  are  one." 

On  the  night  before  His  crucifixion 
He  tells  His  disciples,  "  He  that  hath 
seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father."  So, 
also,  when  He  is  arraigned  before 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Jews  on 
the  charge  of  blasphemy,  in  that  He 
had  made  Himself  equal  with  God, 
He  enters  no  denial;  He  admits  the 
facts,  and  rests  His  defense  upon  the 
truth  of  His  claim,  which  He  now 
reiterates  in  the  presence  of  His 
judges,  "Hereafter  shall  ye  see  the 


82         WHAT   THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST? 

Son  of  Man  sitting  on  the  right  hand 
of  power  and  coming  in  the  clouds 
of  Heaven."  But  His  judges  would 
not  admit  that  His  claim  was  true, 
and  so  He  was  crucified,  and  from 
their  standpoint  rightfully  convicted 
of  blasphemy. 

But  even  these  direct  and  explicit 
assertions  of  divinity  are  not  so 
startling  as  His  quiet  assumption  of 
divine  prerogatives.  Thus  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  He  represents 
Himself  as  the  supreme  arbiter  of 
man's  destiny — "Many  will  say  unto 
me  in  that  day,  Lord,  Lord,  have  wTe 
not  prophesied  in  thy  name  *  *  and 
then  I  will  profess  unto  them — I 
never  knew  you;  depart  from  me  ye 
that  work  iniquity." 

In  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  Mat- 
thew He  speaks  of  Himself  as  sit- 
ting upon  the  throne  of  His  glory, 
thus,  in  effect,  claiming  to  be  the 
King  of  Glory.  And,  in  the  highly 
dramatic  account  of  the  last  judg- 
ment, in  the  same  gospel,  it  is  He, 


WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST?        83 

Jesus,  the  Son  of  Man,  that  shall 
come  "in  His  glory,  and  all  the  holy 
angels  with  Him."  It  is  He  that 
shall  sit  upon  the  throne  as  univer- 
sal monarch,  and  His  lips  shall  pro- 
nounce sentence  upon  the  assembled 
nations. 

So  moreover,  not  once  or  twice,  but 
many  times,  consistently  through- 
out His  ministry,  He  presents  Him- 
self as  the  source  of  life,  the  only 
dependence  of  the  soul,  the  complete 
satisfaction  for  all  human  need,  for 
eternity  as  well  as  for  time:  "Come 
unto  me  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  • 
" 1  am  the  bread  of  life."  ""  I  am  the 
living  bread  which  came  down  from 
Heaven;  if  any  man  eat  of  this  bread 
He  shall  live  forever.''  "I  am  the 
Resurrection  and  the  Life."  "I  am 
the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life." 

Now,  all  this  and  much  more  that 
might  be  quoted  from  the  words  of 
Jesus,  make  it  perfectly  plain  that 
He  Himself,  at  all  events,  claimed 
to  be  God  Incarnate.  And  in  view 


84        WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST? 

of  the  fact  that  Jesus  makes  this 
claim,  we  are  shut  up  to  one  of  three 
alternatives  in  our  estimate  of  Him. 
Either  (1)  He  was  an  impostor,  inten- 
tionally and  wickedly  deceiving  the 
people;  or  (2)  He  was  a  self -deceived, 
visionary  enthusiast,  so  weak  minded 
and  fanatical  as  to  believe  not  only 
that  he  was  a  god,  but  that  he  was 
GOD;  or  else  (3)  He  was  indeed  what 
He  claimed  to  be,  and  has  a  right  to 
all  that  we  ascribe  to  Him  when 
w^e  adore  and  worship  Him  as  our 
Supreme  Lord  and  Everlasting  King. 
Let  us  look  at  the  first  of  these 
alternatives:  Can  it  be  that  Jesus 
was  an  impostor?  Is  it  conceivable 
that  He  purposely  deceived  His  dis- 
ciples, and  deliberately  misled  those 
who  trusted  in  Him,  and  pretended 
to  powers  which  He  did  not  possess? 
Is  it  within  the  limits  of  possibility 
that  the  Jesus  of  the  gospels  was 
acting  a  part  and  living  a  lie?  No! 
it  is  manifestly  impossible.  It  is 
utterly  beyond  all  honest  belief. 


WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST?        85 

All  His  conduct  was  blameless, 
not  only  according  to  the  standard 
of  His  time,  but  even  according  to 
the  infinitely  high  standard  of  His 
own  teaching.  The  most  careful 
scrutiny  fails  to  detect  a  flaw  in  His 
life  and  character,  so  that  if  His 
claim  of  divinity  was  a  pretense,  it 
was  a  lie  proceeding  from  the  purest, 
noblest  heart  that  ever  beat  within 
a  human  breast.  And  it  was  a  lie 
never  repented  of,  and  persisted  in 
through  persecution  and  death,  by 
one  whose  hatred  of  sin,  and  whose 
love  of  truth  and  righteousness  be- 
gan a  moral  revolution  in  the  world. 

Should  the  bramble  bear  grapes, 
or  the  thistle  produce  olives,  even 
then  we  could  not  believe  that  the 
holy  principles  and  exalted  morality 
of  Christianity  have  proceeded  from 
the  teachings  of  a  charlatan  and 
trickster.  It  would  be  a  miracle, 
more  astounding  than  that  of  the 
Incarnation  itself,  if  the  purest  sys- 
tem of  morals  that  the  mind  of  man 


86        WHAT  THINK   YE  OF  CHRIST? 

can  imagine,  and  the  holiest  thoughts, 
and  the  most  tender,  loving  and  un- 
selfish emotions  that  have  ever  had 
a  place  in  human  hearts,  should  have 
originated  in  a  gross  falsehood,  a 
wretched  fraud.  Indeed  it  would 
be  more  than  a  miracle,  it  would  be 
the  destruction  of  all  law,  the  anni- 
hilation of  all  logic,  for  the  very 
statement  of  the  hypothesis  contains 
a  self-contradiction  which  the  mind 
refuses  to  entertain.  We  need  not 
dwell  on  the  argument.  The  most 
reckless  opponent  of  Christianity 
does  not  now  dare  to  impugn  the 
motives,  or  to  question  the  sincerity 
of  Jesus.  Whatever  else  may  be  in 
doubt,  we  know  that  He  was  honest 
and  true  and  pure-hearted  above  all 
the  children  of  men. 

But  if  He  was  not  a  deceiver,  is  it 
not  possible  that  He  was  deceived? 
May  it  not  be,  that,  carried  away  by 
His  religious  enthusiasm,  He  at 
length  came  to  believe  that  He  was 
more  than  human?  This  is  the 


WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST?        87 

• 

favorite  theory  of  modern  skeptics. 
They  represent  Jesus  as  a  good  man, 
one  of  the  best  and  noblest  of  men, 
but,  unfortunately,  to  some  extent 
the  victim  of  a  delusion.  At  times 
his  enthusiasm  bordered  on  fanati- 
cism, and  so  he  came  to  occupy  a 
false  position  and  to  imagine  himself 
possessed  of  superhuman  powers  and 
divine  authority. 

But  this  theory  is  just  as  super- 
ficial and  unscientific  as  that  of  His 
being  an  impostor.  It  is  full  of  con- 
tradictions and  impossibilities,  and 
disregards  the  most  evident  facts  of 
His  life  and  the  most  marked  fea- 
ture of  His  character. 

In  an  age  when  fanaticism  was 
epidemic,  and  although  He  was  the 
object,  by  turns,  of  popular  adula- 
tion and  opposition,  He  remains, 
under  all  circumstances,  calm  and 
:self-possessed,  His  whole  bearing 
and  manner  indicating  no  trace  of 
fanatical  extravagance. 

When  the  multitude  in  their  en- 


88        WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST? 

• 

thusiasm  would  have  taken  Him  by 
force  to  make  Him  a  King,  He  man- 
ifests no  excitement,  He  is  evidently 
under  no  delusion;  but,  quietly  send- 
ing away  His  disciples,  He  dismisses 
the  crowd  and  retires  into  a  moun- 
tain to  pray. 

When  James  and  John,  in  their 
indignant  zeal,  would  call  down  fire 
from  heaven  to  destroy  the  Samar- 
itan villagers  who  would  not  receive 
Him,  He  gently  rebukes  them  and 
goes  to  another  village;  and  even 
when  He  breaks  out  in  terrible  in- 
vective against  the  Scribes  and  Phar- 
isees, His  words  are  full  of  the  dig- 
nity and  power  of  one  who  stands 
upon  the  truth  and  justice  of  His 
cause  and  is  assured  of  the  author- 
ity with  which  He  speaks. 

Indeed,  from  first  to  last,  there 
is  no  faintest  suggestion  of  an 
unbalanced  mind  or  of  a  disordered 
imagination.  On  the  contrary,  all 
His  teachings  are  sublime  in  the 
combined  simplicity  and  profund- 


WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST  f        89 

ity  of  the  truths  which  they  contain. 

Was  that  powerful  intellect  which 
laid  the  foundations  of  Christian 
theology  and  Christian  life,  and 
which  now,  after  eighteen  centuries, 
dominates  the  thought  of  the  civil- 
ized world — was  that  mind,  which 
originated  the  unparalleled  dis- 
courses of  the  gospels,  so  bewil- 
dered and  uncertain  as  to  fall  into 
such  gross  self-esteem,  and  such 
absurd  vain-glory  as  His  assump- 
tions would  involve  if  they  were 
unfounded? 

Did  He,  whose  keen  penetration 
discovered  the  most  subtle  forms  of 
self-deception  in  others,  Himself  fall 
into  a  delusion  more  extravagant 
than  any  that  He  exposed?  Did  He, 
who  rose  superior  to,  and  swept 
away  all  the  superstitions  of  His 
age  and  country,  cherish  a  still  more 
absurd  superstition  in  regard  to 
Himself? 

When  He  claimed  to  have  fed  tlfe 
multitudes  with  a  few  loaves  and 


90         WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST? 

fishes,  or  when  He  summoned  forth 
the  dead  Lazarus  from  the  tomb,  it 
is  simply  impossible  that  He  should 
have  been  laboring  under  a  delusion. 
And  when  He  told  the  disciples  of 
John  to  tell  their  master — "The 
blind  see,  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers 
are  cleansed,  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead 
-are  raised,"  it  is  absolutely  certain 
that  He  knew  what  he  was  saying. 

Only  insanity  could  be  deluded 
into  the  belief  that  such  things 
were,  when  they  were  not;  and  if 
Jesus  is  insane,  then  let  us  look  to 
the  madhouses  for  the  regeneration 
of  the  world,  and  let  us  depend  upon 
the  fanatics  and  the  lunatics  for  the 
discovery  of  truth. 

In  fact,  the  skeptic  cannot  account 
for  Jesus  Christ.  On  any  theory 
which  sets  out  with  His  mere  human- 
ity, He  remains  a  strange,  confusing, 
unaccountable  anomaly.  You  can 
make  nothing  of  Him;  He  is  not  an 
impostor,  'He  is  not  a  self-deceived 
enthusiast,  and  yet  He  claims  the 


WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST?        91 

honor  due  to  God  alone  and  speaks 
with  the  authority  of  Heaven. 

But  when  we  take  Him  at  His 
word — when  we  admit  His  high 
claim — when  we  believe  that  in  Him 
44  the  WORD  became  flesh,"  then  all 
is  consistent  and  harmonious  in  the 
story  of  His  life  and  work.  Mystery, 
of  course,  remains,  as  indeed  we 
know  it  must,  but  all  contradiction 
disappears,  and  mind  and  heart  find 
rest  in  "the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus." 

This,  then,  is  the  glorious,  hope- 
inspiring  fact  of  the  Incarnation. 
"Blessed  be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel, 
for  He  hath  visited  and  redeemed 
His  people." 

Heaven  bends  to  earth,  and  Heav- 
en's King  becomes  our  brother,  that 
we,  through  faith  in  the  Son  of  God, 
may  realize  that  we  also  are  sons  of 
God,  and  thus  be  lifted  to  a  new 
and  noble  position;  a  position  of 
dignity  and  peace  even  now,  and 
bright  with  promised  splendor  in  the 
ages  to  come. 


92         WHAT  THINK  YE  OF  CHRIST? 

It  is  true  that  the  Eternal  Word 
was  ever  the  life  and  light  of  men. 
It  is  true  that  through  all  the  centu- 
ries before  the  angels  sang  to  the 
trembling  shepherds,  the  Word  was 
in  the  world,  though  the  world  knew 
Him  not — giving  to  as  many  as  re- 
ceived Him  power  to  become  the 
sons  of  God.  To  Him  Patriarchs 
and  Prophets  gave  testimony.  In 
Him  the  righteous  and  faithful  of 
all  nations  sought  and  found  peace 
with  God. 

But,  when,  in  the  fulness  of  time, 
the  Word  became  flesh,  and,  in  the 
person  of  Jesus,  dwelt  among  us,  then 
life  and  immortality  were  brought 
to  light,  and  grace  and  truth  were 
manifested  to  the  eyes  of  men. 

Then  it  was  made  evident  that 
man  is  destined  to  be  complete  only 
in  God.  And  then  began  that  new 
life  of  humanity,  which  is  to  go  on 
expanding  from  generation  to  gene- 
ration, until  all  shall  be  gathered 
together  in  one,  in  Christ. 


V. 
The  Three  Witnesses. 


V. 

PROV.  ii,  1-5.  "My  son,  if  ihou  wilt  receive  my 
words  and  hide  my  commandments  with  thee,  so 
that  thou  incline  thine  ear  unto  wisdom  and  apply 
thine  heart  to  understanding;  yea,  if  thou  criest 
after  knowledge,  and  liftest  up  thy  voice  for  under- 
standing; if  thou  seekest  her  as  silver,  and  search- 
est  for  her  as  for  hid  treasures;  then  shalt  thou 
understand  the  fear  of  the  Lord  and  find  the 
knowledge  of  God." 


have  in  these  words  of  the 
wise  King  a  very  urgent  exhortation 
to  study  and  search  out  truth,  and 
it  is  distinctly  declared  that  the  path 
of  honest  and  diligent  inquiry  leads 
to  the  knowledge  of  God,  which  is 
the  substance  of  true  religion.  Let 
a  man  cry  after  knowledge  ;  let  him 
incline  his  ear  to  wisdom  and  apply 
his  heart  to  understanding;  let  him 
seek  truth  as  silver,  and  search  for 
her  as  for  hid  treasures  —  then, 
surely,  without  possibility  of  dis- 
appointment or  failure,  he  shall  un- 


•96  THE   THREE  WITNESSES. 

derstand   the  fear  of  the  Lord  and 
find  the  knowledge  of  God. 

It  is  a  great  error  to  suppose  that 
Christianity  shuns  inquiry  or  shrinks 
from  investigation.  Whatever  may 
liave  been  the  case  at  some  former 
periods,  or  whatever  may  be  the  case 
now,  in  corrupt  portions  of  the 
Christian  church,  it  is  a  slander  to 
assert  that  Christianity  itself  fears 
the  light  of  reason,  or  endeavors  to 
maintain  its  influence  by  withstand- 
ing the  progress  of  science  and  the 
development  of  the  human  intellect. 
On  the  contrary,  Christianity  is  the 
sworn  friend  of  education.  Chris- 
tianity inspires  and  urges  men  to 
cultivate  to  the  fullest  extent  all  the 
powers  of  intellect  with  which  the 
Creator  has  endowed  them.  Our 
religion  teaches  and  prompts  us  to 
search  out  the  secrets  of  nature  and 
of  life.  It  arouses  the  curiosity, 
and  gives  men  such  hints  of  the 
power  and  capacity  of  the  human 
mind  that  the  effect  of  its  influence 


THE  THREE  WITNESSES.  97 

is   ever   to  encourage  the  effort  to 
discover  truth. 

The  church  and  the  school  go 
hand  in  hand,  and  the  knowledge 
of  God  naturally  awakens  a  desire 
to  know  the  works  of  God.  And  so 
we  find  Christian  men  endowing  col- 
leges, and  establishing  schools,  and 
our  institutions  of  learning  are 
largely  filled  with  the  children  of 
those  whose  Christianity  leads  them 
to  appreciate  the  importance  of 
developing  the  mental  powers.  And 
as  our  religion  influences  men  to  the 
study  of  all  other  truth,  so  especially 
does  it  urge  them  to  the  study  and 
investigation  of  the  great  truths 
upon  which  Christianity  itself  is 
based,  and  which  it  is  its  business 
to  proclaim. 

If  the  Christian  religion  cannot 
stand  inquiry;  if  it  cannot  answer 
when  it  is  questioned;  if  it  has  no 
established  facts  to  bring  forward  in  ' 
support  of  its  claims — then,  by  all 
means,  let  us  give  it  up. 


98  THE  THREE  WITNESSES. 

It  does  not  authoritatively  demand 
a  blind,  irrational  faith,  but  it  seeks 
the  assent  of  the  reason  as  well  as 
the  trust  of  the  heart.  And  so  when 
men  call  Christianity  a  superstition, 
a  priestcraft;  when  they  represent  it 
as  the  enemy  of  science,  or  as  seek- 
ing to  maintain  its  position  by  im- 
peding the  march  of  the  intellect, 
they  speak  ignorantly  and  falsely. 

The  scriptures,  throughout,  repeat 
in  various  forms  the  exhortation  of 
the  text.  They  appeal  to  nature,  to 
history,  to  the  human  consciousness, 
to  every  department  of  research  and 
knowledge  for  the  confirmation  of 
their  claims;  and  the  whole  tendency 
of  the  teaching  of  Prophets  and 
Apostles,  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Himself,  is  to  set  men  to  the  careful 
examination  of  the  grounds  of  their 
faith.  So  far  then  from  depending 
upon  darkness  and  ignorance  for  its 
support,  the  Christian  religion  ever 
seeks  the  brightest  light;  and  so  far 
from  being  the  foe  of  science  and  of 


THE   THREE  WITNESSES.  99 

the  free  exercise  of  thought,  it  ever 
encourages  the  search  for  truth  and 
courts  the  most  thorough  investiga- 
tion of  its  own  transcendent  claims;, 
And  this  attitude  of  Christianity 
is,  of  itself,  strong  evidence  that  its 
claims  are  well  founded;  for  if  they 
are  not,  then  it  presents  the  absurd,, 
the  impossible  spectacle  of  a  false 
system,  exciting  a  desire  for  truth 
which  could  only  be  gratified  by  the 
destruction  of  that  system.  If  Chris- 
tianity be  false,  then  the  men  who  are 
most  deeply  interested  in  maintain- 
ing this  false  system  are  most  eagerly 
pursuing  the  very  course  which  will 
expose  and  overthrow  their  error. 
If  Christianity  be  false,  then  we 
have  the  strange  fact  of  a  vast  false- 
hood cherishing  in  its  bosom  the 
suicidal  principle  of  an  eager  love  of 
truth,  and  yet  not  only  living  on,  but 
developing  and  growing  in  every 
direction,  by  the  very  force  of  that 
principle  which  would  naturally 
destroy  it. 


100  THE  THREE   WITNESSES. 

But  while  Christianity  seeks  inves- 
tigation, it  demands,  and  justly  de- 
mands, that  that  investigation  shall 
be  full  and  honest.  All  the  facts 
must  be  taken  into  consideration, 
and  the  aim  must  be  simply  to  arrive 
at  the  truth,  whatever  that  truth 
may  be.  Sneers  and  ridicule  and 
sarcastic  wit  are  not  arguments,. and 
fierce  assaults  upon  detached  pas- 
sages of  scripture,  or  upon  solitary 
facts  taken  out  of  their  connection 
are  not  the  methods  of  impartial 
inquiry.  And  there  is  the  trouble 
with  infidelity.  It  attacks  Christian- 
ity. It  carries  forward  its  so-called 
investigations  with  the  avowed  pur- 
pose of  overthrowing  "the  faith." 
It  allows  this  purpose  to  sway  its 
judgment  of  all  facts,  and  so  is 
utterly  unfair  and  unscientific  in  its 
criticism. 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  facts  of 
Christianity,  which  the  inquirer  must 
face — I  mean  the  great,  undeniable 
facts  which  stand  out  before  every 


THE  THREE   WITNESSES.  101 

intelligent  man  with  such  promi- 
nence that  they  cannot  be  ignored. 
These  facts  are,  first:  The  Book — 
the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  Second:  The  Person- 
Jesus,  the  Christ.  Third:  The  Insti- 
tution— the  Christian  Church  in  its 
historical  development.  Our  claim 
is,  that  these  facts  can  only  be 
accounted  for  by  the  further  fact  of 
-a  personal  God — revealed  in  the  Bible, 
incarnate  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  still 
present  arid  efficient,  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  in  the  Christian  Church. 

And  the  inquiry  is,  can  these  facts 
be  accounted  for  in  any  other  way? 
Can  any  rational  and  adequate  ex- 
planation of  them  be  given,  if  a 
personal  God  be  denied  and  the 
supernatural  be  excluded? 

1st.  The  Book — a  book  which  is 
-entirely  unique  in  all  the  literature 
of  the  world.  It  is,  indeed,  a  liter- 
ature in  itself,  rather  than  a  single 
book.  Written  by  nearly  fifty  differ- 
ent authors,  through  a  long  period 


102  THE  THREE  WITNESSES. 

of  fifteen  hundred  years,  under  cir- 
cumstances as  widely  different  as  a 
king's  throne  and  a  prisoner's  dun- 
geon— with  a  marvelous  variety  of 
style,  and  each  writer  having  his 
own  special  and  immediate  object  in 
view — it  is  yet  a  unit  in  its  grand 
purpose,  and  all  its  teachings  con- 
verge upon  one  central  point  and 
illustrate  one  prevailing  theme — the 
Salvation  of  Man  from  the  power 
and  punishment  of  sin,  through  the 
limitless  love  and  the  stupendous 
sacrifice  of  a  personal  Lord  and 
Deliverer,  who  is  at  once  the  seed  of 
the  woman  and  the  Son  of  God. 
This  is  the  thrillmg  subject  of  the 
whole  book,  from  Genesis  to  the 
Revelation.  It  is  with  this  momen- 
tous topic  that  th-e  history,  the 
poetry,  the  prophecy,  the  legislation 
of  the  Bible  are  concerned.  And 
the  most  hostile  criticism,  the  most 
thorough  and  exhaustive  examina- 
tion by  the  keenest  scholars  in  all 
the  centuries  has  failed  to  establish 


THE  THREE  WITNESSES.  103 

Contradiction  or  inconsistency  in  any 
material  point  in  this  astonishing 
book.  Now,  how  can  this  fact  be 
explained?  How  is  it  that  Moses, 
who  lived  fifteen  hundred  years 
before  Christ,  and  wrote  for  a  tribe 
of  enfranchised  slaves,  wandering 
through  an  inhospitable  desert;  and 
David,  who  lived  five  hundred  years 
.after  Moses  and  wrote  for  a  civilized 
and  well-organized  nation;  and  Zech- 
ariah,  who  lived  five  hundred  years 
after  David  and  wrote  for  that  nation 
in  the  time  of  its  humiliation  and 
captivity;  and  Paul,  who  lived  five 
hundred  years  later  still,  and  wrote 
for  gentile  as  well  as  Jew,  for  all 
classes  and  conditions  of  men,  and 
with  a  far-reaching  forward  intention 
toward  generations  yet  unborn- 
how  is  it,  I  say,  that  now,  more  than 
three  thousand  years  after  the  first 
of  them  was  penned,  and  more  than 
eighteen  hundred  years  since  the 
last  of  them  appeared — how  is  it 
.that  all  these  so  various  writings  are 


104  THE  THREE   WITNESSES. 

bound  up  in  one  volume,  forming  a 
perfect  and  consistent  whole,  so 
complete  and  symmetrical,  so  mani- 
festly one  in  design  and  teaching  that 
the  majority  of  people  never  think 
of  them  except  as  one  book,  and  all 
speak  of  them  as  The  Bible?  And 
furthermore,  how  is  it  that  now, 
after  all  these  centuries,  and  amid 
political  and  social  and  religious  and 
literary  circumstances ,  altogether 
new  and  undreamed  of  by  its  wri- 
ters, this  Bible  is  still  full  of  vigor 
and  freshness  and  practical  applica- 
tion to  human  need? 

And  the  wonder  grows,  as  we  con- 
sider the  amazing  influence  which  it 
has  exercised  and  still  continues  to 
exercise  over  the  minds  and  lives  of 
men.  Translated  into  more  than 
two  hundred  languages,  and  scat- 
tered over  the  whole  earth  in  mill- 
ions and  millions  of  copies,  it  is 
eagerly  read  and  pondered  in  the 
hovel  and  in  the  palace;  studied  with 
absorbing  interest  by  the  acutest 


THE  THREE   WITNESSES.  105 

minds,  the  most  profound  and  accu- 
rate scholars  the  world  has  known; 
and  commented  upon  in  many  thou- 
sands of  volumes  of  learned  exposi- 
tion, it  has  also  been  the  loved  com- 
panion and  unfailing  friend  of  the 
ignorant  and  humble. 

The  sorrowing  have  been  comfort- 
ed; the  tempted  have  been  strength- 
ened; the  erring  have  been  brought 
back  to  virtue;  the  young  have  been 
inspired  to  seek  noble  ends;  strong 
men  in  the  thick  of  life's  battle  have 
been  armed  to  resist  evil;  the  aged 
have  had  the  lingering  days  of  infirm- 
ity made  bright  and  peaceful;  the 
dying  have  been  enabled  to  triumph 
over  all  the  terror  of  the  grave,  by  the 
words  of  this  incomparable  book. 
And  that,  not  in  exceptional  instan- 
ces and  under  peculiar  circum- 
stances, but  through  many  centuries 
and  in  all  lands  where  the  Bible  has 
found  its  way.  And  to-day,  in  the 
midst  of  the  much  boasted  light  and 
progress  of  this  nineteenth  century, 


106  THE  THREE  WITNESSES. 

this  ancient  book  is  more  widely 
read,  more  carefully  studied,  and 
more  practically  and  powerfully 
influential  than  ever  before. 

Certainly  all  this  constitutes  a  fact 
which  has  no  parallel.  It  is  a 
unique  fact,  which  the  inquirer  must 
face,  and  for  which  he  is  bound  to 
give  some  adequate  explanation. 
We  Christians  say,  in  the  language 
of  the  Bible  itself,  that  "holy  men 
of  old  spake  as  they  were  moved  by 
the  Holy  Ghost."  We  hold  that  the 
supernatural  influence  of  the  Divine 
Spirit  enlightened  the  minds  and 
guided  the  thoughts  and  expressions 
of  these  writers,  and  so  their  unity 
and  consistency  are  the  unity  and 
consistency  of  absolute  and  divinely 
revealed  truth.  And  the  astonish- 
ing and  beneficent  power  of  their 
words  is  due  to  the  efficacy  of  the 
Spirit  that  underlies  them.  In  a 
word,  it  is  God's  Book,  and  hence  its 
peculiar  position  in  the  literature  of 
the  world. 


THE  THREE   WITNESSES.  107 

Now,  if  you  reject  this  theory,  if 
you  refuse  to  accept  this  explana- 
tion, how  will  you  account  for  these 
facts,  under  what  natural  laws  will 
you  group  them?  There  is  no  other 
book,  or  set  of  books,  in  any  degree 
like  the  Bible.  The  sacred  writings 
of  other  religions  can  no  more  be. 
compared  with  this  book  than  oil- 
lamps  and  tallow  candles  can  be 
compared  with  the  sun  in  the  Heav- 
ens. These  can  be,  and  have  been, 
accounted  for  in  their  origin  and 
development  and  influence,  accord- 
ing to  well-known  laws  of  human 
nature,  but  although  all  along,  from 
age  to  age,  unbelievers  have  been 
trying  to  account  thus  for  the  facts 
connected  with  this  book  and  its 
history,  they  have  utterly  failed. 
The  theories  of  one  infidel  have 
been  shown  to  be  absurd  by  the 
arguments  of  another.  Indeed  the 
only  rational  and  adequate  account 
of  the  origin  and  power  of  the  Bible 
is  that  which  the  Christian  gives 


108  THE  THREE  WITNESSES. 

when  he  calls  it  The  Word  of  God. 

The  second  outstanding  fact  which 
confronts  him  who  would  inquire 
into  the  claims  of  Christianity,  is 
the  person  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 
The  undisputed,  the  indisputable 
particulars  of  his  life  and  character 
are,  in  brief,  these: 

He  lived  in  Galilee,  an  unknown, 
unnoticed  Jewish  peasant,  until  he 
was  about  thirty  years'  of  age.  He 
then  appeared  in  public  as  a  teacher 
of  religious  truth,  and  very  speedily 
attracted  the  attention  and  excited 
the  interest  of  all  classes  of  the 
people  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  Palestine.  For  about 
three  years  he  continued  his  work, 
going  from  place  to  place  with  a 
small  retinue  of  plain  men,  fisher- 
men and  tax-gatherers,  and  in  the 
synagogues  and  in  the  streets,  by 
the  roadsides  and  on  the  seashore, 
on  the  mountains  of  Galilee  and  in 
the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  he  quietly 
and  simply  gave  utterance  to  the 


THE  THREE   WITNESSES.  109> 

most  profound  truths  which  the 
mind  of  man  is  able  to  contemplate; 
solving  questions  over  which  philos- 
ophers have  puzzled  for  ages  with  a 
few  words,  so  plain  that  a  child  can 
understand  them,  and  in  such  a  tone 
of  calm  assurance  that  it  is  evident 
that  in  his  mind  there  was  no  doubt 
or  hesitation.  And  these  plain  and 
forceful  words  fall  upon  the  ear  to- 
day as  freshly  as  when  they  were 
first  spoken. 

He  claimed  to  be  the  Son  of  God 
and  the  Judge  of  the  World. 

He  claimed  perfect  holiness  for 
himself,  and  the  power  to  deliver 
others  from  sin.  He  claimed  to 
work  miracles,  and  by  a  word  to 
heal  the  sick,  to  restore  sight  to  the 
blind,  to  give  hearing  to  the  deaf- 
even  to  raise  the  dead  to  life.  The 
honors  which  most  men  seek,  he 
refused,  even  when  they  were 
pressed  upon  him,  and  led  an  hum- 
ble life  of  poverty  and  toil,  while 
he  rebuked  the  eager  desires  of  his. 


110         •   THE  THREE   WITNESSES. 

followers  for  the  earthly  success 
and  prosperity  of  his  mission. 

He  declared  that  his  kingdom  was 
not  of  this  world,  but  he  also  de- 
clared that  it  should  ultimately 
include  the  \vorld,  and  that  it  should 
continue  for  ever.  The  morality  he 
taught  was  the  highest  and  purest 
imaginable,  and  his  own  life  did  not, 
in  any  particular,  fall  below  his 
doctrine.  At  times  he  was  very 
popular,  and  multitudes  followed 
him  admiringly,  and  w^ould  have 
been  glad  to  put  him  at  their  head 
in  an  insurrection  against  the  Roman 
power. 

But  at  last,  having  disappointed 
the  carnal  expectations  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  roused  the  bitter  enmity  of 
the  ecclesiastical  rulers  by  his  fear- 
less denunciation  of  their  greed  and 
hypocrisy,  he  was  betrayed  by  one 
of  his  own  disciples,  and  put  to 
death  by  crucifixion  as  a  blasphemer 
a  traitor. 

Before  his  death  he  had  told  his 


THE  THREE   WITNESSES.  11* 

disciples  that  he  must  soon  be  killed, 
but  that  he  should  rise  again  the- 
third  day. 

This  declaration  they  seem  not  to 
have  understood  at  the  time,  but  af- 
terwards they  believed  that  he  did 
rise ;  they  believed  that  they  saw  him 
and  talked  with  him,  and  that  finally 
they  beheld  him  pass  away  through 
the  clouds  into  Heaven.  And  this 
their  belief  was  so  strong  and  confi- 
dent and  precious  that,  to  maintain  it, 
and  to  persuade  others  of  its  truth, 
they  willingly  gave  up  every  worldly 
interest,  and  exposed  themselves  to 
ignominy  and  persecution  and  death. 

Such,  in  brief  outline,  are  the 
facts  of  Christ's  life,  which  all  must 
admit.  Not  one  of  them  can  be 
successfully  denied,  for  they  are  as 
indubitably  a  part  of  authentic  his- 
tory as  the  story  of  the  French  Rev- 
olution or  the  life  of  George  Wash- 
ington. The  question  then  is,  What 
will  you  do  with  these  facts?  What 
rational  account  will  you  give  of 


112  THE  THREE   WITNESSES. 

them?  The  Christian,  of  course, 
asserts  that  the  words  of  Christ 
were  true,  that  His  claims  were  well 
founded,  that  He  is  indeed  the  Son 
of  God  and  the  Divine  Savior  of 
men,  that  He  is  God  manifest  in  the 
flesh,  that  He  is  risen  from  the  dead, 
and  that  the  disciples  did  see  and 
talk  with  Him  after  His  resurrection, 
as  they  claimed. 

But  if  you  say  that  this  is  not  scien- 
tific, that  science  cannot  admit  the 
supernatural,  then  you  must  substi- 
tute some  other  more  satisfactory, 
more  scientific  explanation  of  the 
facts.  And  with  this  problem  infidel- 
ity has  of  late  years  been  very  busy. 
The  most  elaborate,  ingenious  and 
complete  attempts  to  account  for  the 
person  of  Christ  are  those  of  Strauss 
and  of  Renan.  But  who  believes  now 
that  either  of  them  is  a  true  theory? 
They  are  so  full  of  contradictions 
and  absurdities  that  the  intelligent 
enemies  of  Christianity  can  get  but 
little  comfort  from  them. 


THE  THREE   WITNESSES.  113 

And  still  the  facts  are  unaccounted 
for.  Still  the  question  remains 
unanswered — "What  think  ye  of 
Christ?"  Do  you  say,  "he  was  a 
good  and  great  man,  an  earnest  re- 
former, and  a  teacher  of  truth — that 
is  all"?  But  that  does  not,  by  any 
means,  settle  the  matter,  for  now 
your  answer  must  be  questioned  in 
the  light  of  all  the  facts:  You  say 
he  was  a  great  and  good  man.  Ah  ! 
but  he  claimed  to  work  miracles. 
You  say  he  was  merely  a  reformer 
and  a  teacher  of  truth.  But  he 
claimed  to  raise  the  dead,  and  that 
he  himself  should  rise,  and  that  he 
should  sit  upon  the  throne  of  the 
Universe  and  judge  all  nations. 
"Well,"  you  answer,  "he  was  vis- 
ionary and  enthusiastic  in  these 
things  and  fell,  of  course,  into  some 
errors  and  extravagances."  But  is 
it  conceivable  that  one  so  remark- 
able for  self-possession  and  calm- 
ness, for  practical  wisdom  and 
shrewd  common  sense — is  it  con- 


114  THE  THREE   WITNESSES, 

ceivable  that  one  whose  words  are 
the  clear  expression  of  the  most 
profound  and  far-reaching  truth 
should  have  been  the  subject  of 
such  vulgar  delusions? 

If  it  be  true  that  He  who  preached 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  told 
the  story  of  the  Prodigal  son,  and 
uttered  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  lived 
the  life  of  gentle,  loving  purity  re- 
corded in  the  gospels — if  it  be  true 
that  the  Jesus  of  history  imagined 
that  He  raised  dead  people  .to  life, 
or  that  He  fed  great  multitudes  with 
a  few  loaves  and  fishes,  then  we 
may  as  well  throw  away  all  that 
has  ever  been  written  on  the  science 
of  the  human  mind;  then,  indeed, 
there  is  not,  and  cannot  be  any  such 
science,  for  here  are  facts  which 
give  the  lie  to  all  experience  and 
observation,  and  stand  outside  of 
any  possible  consistent  theory. 

For,  notice:  it  is  not  simply  that 
this  great,  strong,  clear  intellect  was 
deceived  into  the  belief  that  some 


THE  THREE   WITNESSES.  115 

one  else  wrought  miracles — that 
would  be  hard  enough  to  credit- 
but  the  infidel  theory  is  that  this 
most  powerful  mind  was  constantly 
under  the  absurd  delusion  that  he 
himself  not  only  could,  but  actually 
did  that  which  no  human  power  can 
do — and  that  not  once  or  twice,  but 
hundreds  of  times,  all  through  his 
ministry.  The  fact  is,  that  the 
denial  of  the  divine  and  the  super- 
natural in  the  life  of  Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth, involves  a  belief  in  wonders 
more  strange  and  inexplicable  than 
any  of  the  miracles  attributed  to 
him.  And  the  unbeliever  exhibits 
amazing  credulity  in  accepting  the 
contradictions  which  are  evident  in 
any  theory  of  a  merely  hitman  Jesus. 
The  other  obtrusive  fact  which 
must  be  met  in  any  honest  inquiry 
concerning  the  claims  of  Christianity 
is — the  Christian  Church.  And  the 
problem  is  to  account  for  its  peculiar 
origin,  its  unexampled  career,  and 
its  present  unparalleled  position. 


11(3  THE  THREE   WITNESSES. 

A  few  obscure  men,  humiliated 
and  disheartened  by  the  shameful 
death  of  their  leader,  suddenly  be- 
come filled  with  an  all-absorbing 
enthusiasm  for  the  cause  which  but 
a  moment  before  they  deemed  lost. 
They  boldly  and  emphatically  de- 
clare that  their  Lord  has  risen  from 
the  dead.  They  stake  their  lives 
upon  this,  and  with  wonderful  zeal 
and  wisdom  and  courage  they  seek 
to  persuade  all  men  to  accept  the 
fact  and  to  entrust  to  this  crucified 
and  risen  Jesus  all  their  interests 
for  time  and  eternity — and  though 
the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  rulers 
oppose  and  persecute  them,  though 
often  the  people  are  excited  to  fierce 
enmity,  yet  still  their  numbers  rap- 
idly increase.  Their  influence  ex- 
tends north,  south,  east  and  west; 
until,  within  three  hundred  years, 
their  faith,  so  ridiculed  and  despised 
at  the  beginning,  has  become 
the  state  religion  of  the  Roman 
Empire. 


THE   THREE  WITNESSES.  117 

And  now,  through  eighteen  hun- 
dred yeajs  this  institution  of  the 
Christian  Church  has  been  growing 
and  expanding  far  and  wide  through 
the  earth.  Threatened  with  des- 
truction by  the  fire  and  sword  of  its 
enemies — assailed  again  and  again 
by  the  most  subtle  and  ingenious 
arguments  of  infidelity— shaken  to 
its  very  center  by  the  corruption, 
the  hypocrisy,  the  treason  of  false 
disciples,  manifesting  often,  on  its 
human  side,  a  folly  and  blindness 
which  would  have  been  fatal  to  any 
other  institution,  it  not  only  lives  to- 
day, but  lives  with  a  fuller  life,  and 
exhibits  a  more  healthy  and  benefi- 
cent activity  than  at  any  former 
period  of  its  history.  Wherever  its 
banners  are  carried  and  its  teachings 
accepted,  the  most  happy  results  are 
quickly  seen.  Morality,  science,  art, 
freedom,  the  family,  the  school,  the 
orphan  asylum,  commerce,  manufac- 
tures, prosperity — these  are  the  in- 
cidental and  secondary  accompani- 


118  THE   THREE  WITNESSES. 

ments  of  its  more  specific  work  for 
the  salvation  of  immortal  souls. 

The  civilization  which  is  spreading 
among  the  nations,  and  which  has  in 
it  the  elements  of  indefinite  expan- 
sion and  adaptability  to  all  races  of 
men,  is  emphatically  a  Christian 
civilization.  And  the  instrumental 
cause  of  all  that  is  being  done  for 
the  elevation  of  mankind,  is  this 
Christian  church,  built  upon  the 
prophets  and  apostles,  Jesus  Christ 
Himself  being  the  chief  corner  stone. 

Xow,  what  we  claim  is,  that  those 
wrho  will  not  accept  our  explanation 
of  these  facts,  that  those  who  will 
not  admit  the  supernatural  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  church,  shall  account  for 
the  facts  in  some  other  way.  And 
here  again,  after  all  the  attempts 
that  have  been  made,  the  problem 
remains  unsolved  by  infidelity.  Gib- 
bon tried  to  solve  it  historically, 
and  Leckey  tried  to  solve  it  philo- 
sophically, but  their  positions  have 
been  proved  untenable,  and  their 


THE  THREE   WITNESSES.  119 

theories  do  not  cover  the  facts  in  the 
case.  And  what  Gibbon  and  Leckey 
have  failed  to  do,  men  of  less  learn- 
ing and  less  ingenuity  certainly  will 
not  accomplish. 

Facts  are  persistent  and  indomita- 
ble, and  they  can  be  neither  sneered 
nor  ignored  out  of  existence.  And 
these  facts  of  Christianity — these 
facts  which  cannot  be  denied — the 
Bible,  Jesus  Christ,  the  Christian 
Church,  stand  forth  as  the  most 
prominent,  the  most  obtrusive  facts 
of  human  life  and  history.  Vague 
talk  about  the  power  of  superstition 
:and  the  general  credulity  of  men,  will 
not  explain  them,  neither  are  they  sci- 
entifically accounted  for  by  ridicul- 
ing the  story  of  Jonah  and  the  Whale. 
These  facts  are  too  vast  and  too  con- 
spicuous to  be  disposed  of  in  any  such 
way.  In  truth,  the  more  diligently 
we  study  them,  the  more  thoroughly 
we  investigate  them,  the  less  satis- 
factory, the  less  adequate  does  any 
natural  explanation  of  them  appear. 


120  THE  THREE   WITNESSES. 

The  Bible  is  itself  a  greater  miracle* 
than  any  that  it  records;  and  Jesus 
Christ  is  a  greater  miracle  than  any 
that  He  claimed  to  work;  and  the 
Christian  Church  is  a  greater  miracle 
than  any  that  are  said  to  have  oc- 
curred in  its  history. 

And  so  we  come  back  to  the  point 
from  which  we  started,  and  unhesi- 
tatingly assert  that  what  Christian- 
ity especially  seeks  is  light — LIGHT! 

Our  holy  religion  asks  of  the  world 
a  full,  thorough,  honest,  searching, 
scientific  investigation,  and  the 
brighter  the  light  the  more  glori- 
ous will  her  heavenly  truths  appear. 

Let  no  man  fear  the  future.  No 
matter  what  storms  may  gather — no 
matter  what  foes  may  arise — no 
matter  how  many  scoffing  infidels 
may  oppose  themselves — the  church 
of  the  Living  God  will  move  onward 
in  majestic  progress  to  complete  and 
universal  triumph. 

The  old,  old  faith  by  which  the 
apostles  lived  and  the  martyrs  died 


THE  THREE  WITNESSES.  121 

— the  old  faith  of  Augustine  arid 
Anselm  and  a'Kempis — the  old  faith 
of  our  fathers  and  mothers — will 
yet  live  and  grow  older  and  older, 
and  still  its  youth  will  ever  be  re- 
newed, and  our  children,  and  our 
children's  children  shall  rejoice  in 
the  blessings  it  brings.  As  it  has 
taught  us  the  way  of  life,  and  brought 
to  our  souls  the  sweet  peace  of  par- 
don; as  it  has  united  us  in  tender 
love  with  Jesus  our  Savior;  as  it  has 
strengthened  us  in  the  hour  of  temp- 
tation and  comforted  us  in  all  our 
griefs;  as  it  illumines  our  souls  with 
the  glad,  bright  hope  of  Heaven — so 
will  it  continue  to  do  for  countless 
generations  yet  unborn. 

The  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  is  the 
Eternal  Truth  of  God. 


VI. 
The  Experimental  Proof. 


VI. 

PSALM  xxxiv,  8.     "0  taste  and  see  that  the  Lord  is 
good." 

IN  the  Christian  religion  every- 
thing turns  on  faith.  Christ  Him- 
self tells  us — "He  that  believeth 
shall  be  saved,  and  he  that  believeth 
not  shall  be  condemned."  Paul  de- 
clared faith  to  be  the  one  essential 
condition  of  salvation,  as  when  he 
says  to  the  jailor  of  Philippi,  "Be- 
lieve on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and 
thou  shalt  be  saved." 

It  is  true  that  the  Scriptures  also 
insist  upon  the  necessity  of  good 
works  and  righteousness  of  life,  and 
teach,  with  utmost  plainness,  that 
without  personal  holiness  no  man 
can  see  the  Lord. 

But  this  two-fold  teaching  does: 
'not  involve  any  contradiction  or 


126      THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF. 

inconsistency,  because  virtue  and 
benevolence  and  all  the  qualities  of 
holiness  form  a  part  of  that  salvation 
of  which  faith  is  the  only  condition. 
They  are  results  of  faith  just  as  cer- 
tain as  the  pardon  of  sin  and  admis- 
sion to  Heaven. 

When  a  man  sincerely  believes  in 
Christ  he  becomes  good,  and  his 
goodness  is  a  part  of  his  salvation, 
and  a  most  necessary  part.  Indeed 
there  is  no  salvation  of  which  good- 
ness does  not  form  a  part.  So  that 
no  matter  how  emphatically  a  man 
may  assert  that  lie  believes  in  Jesus, 
if  his  life  is  persistently  evil,  we 
know  that  he  is  deceiving  himself 
and  that  he  has  no  true  faith.  If  an 
evil-living  man  is  counting  on  par- 
don and  the  joys  of  Heaven  on  the 
ground  of  his  faith  in  Jesus,  he  is 
cherishing  a  false  hope,  because  his 
want  of  personal  righteousness  shows 
that  his  faith  is  not  genuine — that  it 
is  not  effecting,  and  cannot  effect, 
Ms  salvation. 


THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF.        127 

Still,  salvation  by  faith,  and  by 
faith  alone,  is  the  great  central  doc- 
trine of  Christianity ;  everything  else 
turns  on  this,  so  that  the  one  urgent 
exhortation  which  is  ever  on  the 
lips  of  the  preacher  of  the  gospel  is 
just  this — Believe !  Believe !  Believe 
on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou 
shalt  be  saved — saved  from  sin  first, 
and  then  from  that  misery  which, is 
the  consequence  of  sin.  We  go  into 
all  the  world  and  to  every  creature, 
we  proclaim  the  good  news  of  a  free 
salvation,  and  he  who  believes  is 
saved,  and  he  who  refuses  to  believe 
is  condemned,  "because  he  hath  not 
believed  in  the  name  of  the  only 
begotten  Son  of  God." 

And  right  here,  at  this  central 
point,  is  the  difficulty  with  many 
who  are  not  Christians.  They  say, 
"  Such  a  condition  of  salvation  is  not 
fair,  because  one's  beliefs  are  not 
under  the  control  of  the  will.  m  One 
cannot,  therefore,  be  held  respon- 
sible for  his  beliefs.  I  have  looked 


123        THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF. 

into  this  matter  and  my  mind  is  not 
convinced,  and  consequently  it  is  out 
of  the  question  for  me  to  believe. 
It  is  all  very  beautiful,  and  it  would 
be  very  pleasant  to  know  that  it  is 
all  true,  but  I  honestly  do  not  and 
cannot  believe  it.  Why  should  I  be 
punished  for  what  I  cannot  help?" 

Now  let  us  consider  whether  this 
position  is  sound  or  not — whether, 
indeed,  it  is  a  fact  that  the  unbe- 
liever cannot  believe: 

Beliefs  are  sometimes  produced 
by  arguments  addressed  to  the  un- 
derstanding, sometimes  by  the  testi- 
mony of  men  upon  whose  intelli- 
gence and  honesty  we  rely;  but  the 
scientific  method  of  experiment  is 
the  method  which  in  these  days  is 
especially  relied  upon  to  reach  con- 
viction and  certainty. 

Now  to  my  mind  the  philosoph- 
ical argument  for  the  truth  of  the 
Christian  religion  is  simply  conclu- 
sive. The  process  of  reasoning  by 
which  it  can  be  shown  that  the 


THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF.        129 

church  is  a  divine  institution;  that 
the  Bible  is  the  product  of  inspi- 
ration, and  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  Son  of  God,  appears  to  me 
to  be  sound,  logical  and  unan- 
swerable. But  to  you  it  does  not 
seem  so.  You  have  considered  the 
arguments  for  and  against  Chris- 
tianity, and  you  are  convinced 
that  the  church  is  a  merely  human 
society;  that  the  Bible  is  not  the 
Word  of  God  in  any  special  sense, 
and  that  Jesus  was  self-deceived, 
and  from  these  arguments,  you 
say  that  you  can  come  to  no  other 
conclusion. 

So,  again,  the  testimony  of  Chris- 
tians would  be  enough  to  satisfy  my 
mind  of  the  truth  of  our  religion. 
Myriads  of  men  and  women,  of  high 
intelligence  and  undoubted  honesty, 
in  every  age  of  the  church,  have 
asserted  that  God  lias  revealed  Him- 
self to  their  faith;  that  they  have 
had  experiences  which  make  it  im- 
possible for  them  to  doubt.  Their 


13J         THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF. 

testimony  is  like  that  of  Meyer's 
St.  Paul- 

"  Whoso  has  felt  the  Spirit  of  the  Highest, 
''Cannot  confound,  nor  doubt  Him,  nor  deny: 

"Yea,  with  one  voice,  O  world,  though  thou  deni- 

est, 
"Stand  thou  on  that  skte,  for  011  this  am  I. 

"Rather  the  Earth  shall  doubt  when  her  retriev- 
ing 

"Pours  in  the  rain  and  rushes  from  the  sod, 
"Rather  than  he  for  whom  the  great  conceiving 

"Stirs  in  his  soul  to  quicken  into  God. 

"Ay,  though  thou  then  shouldst  strike  him  from 
his  glory, 

"Blind  and  tormented,  maddened,  and  alone, 
"Even  on  the  cross  would  he  maintain  his  story, 

"Yes,  and  in  hell  would  whisper,  I  have  known." 

Their  hearts,  their  desires,  their  pur- 
poses, their  whole  lives  have  been 
changed  under  the  influence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  it  is  an  influence  of 
which  they  have  been  and  are  per- 
fectly Conscious.  But  while  to  me 
this  evidence  is  perfectly  convincing, 
in  your  mind,  perhaps,  it  does  not 
produce  conviction.  You  believe 
that  these  people  are  mistaken,  that 


THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF.       131 

they  are  self-deceived,  that  the  re- 
sults which  they  attribute  to  super- 
natural causes  and  divine  influences 
are  really  due  to  causes  perfectly 
natural,  and  so  you  cannot  receive 
their  testimony. 

And  "Now,"  you  say,  "what 
more  can  I  do?  I  cannot  force  my 
mind  to  accept  that  which  my  reason 
rejects."  True,  but  neither  can  I  go 
back  of  my  Master's  words,  "he  that 
believeth  shall  be  saved,  and  he  that 
believeth  not  shall  be  condemned," 
and  yet  I  am  perfectly  sure  that  not 
one  single  individual  in  all  the  uni- 
verse will  ever  be  condemned  for 
what  he  cannot  help. 

The  fact  is  that  you  are  mistaken 
when  you  say  you  cannot  believe. 
You  can  believe,  if  you  will  take  the 
necessary  steps  to  reach  belief. 

I  do  not  mean  that  you  are  to  go 
deeper  into  the  argument  for  Chris- 
tianity, although  I  doubt  whether 
you  have  quite  exhausted  that  meth- 
od of  inquiry.  Nor  do  I  mean  that 


132        THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF. 

you  should  reconsider  the  force  and 
significance  of  the  testimony  of  be- 
lievers, although  the  probability  is 
that  you  have  not  given  that  testi- 
mony its  due  weight.  But  I  do 
mean  that  you  should  adopt  the  plan 
suggested  in  the  text,  which,  after 
all,  is  the  only  method  by  which  any 
true  saving  faith  can  be  acquired. 

TRY  Christianity.  Test  it  by  per- 
sonal experiment.  "0  taste  and  see 
that  the  Lord  is  good."  There  is 
really  no  other  way  of  getting  at  the 
bottom  of  it.  Argument  and  the 
testimony  of  others  are,  indeed,  of 
great  value:  they  confirm  the  waver- 
ing; they  strengthen  the  weak;  they 
lead  the  hesitating  to  try  the  exper- 
iment. In  the  minds  of  infidel  and 
skeptic  they  awaken  doubts  as  to 
the  validity  of  their  doubts.  But 
they  can  never  produce  a  living  faith. 
Even  if  you  were  fully  convinced  in 
your  reason  that  all  that  the  Bible 
contains  is  the  very  truth  of  God, 
still,  unless  you  are  able  to  say,  "I 


THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF.       133 

have  tasted  and  seen,"  you  have  no 
real  faith. 

Just  here,  then,  is  where  your 
responsibility  in  this  matter  of  faith 
comes  in.  Is  it  honest  for  you  to 
say  that  you  cannot  believe  until 
you  have  used  every  possible  means 
to  acquire  belief?  And  yet,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  one  only  proper 
and  sure  method,  the  straight-for- 
ward, common-sense,  scientific  meth- 
od you  have  utterly  neglected. 

.Christianity  is  not  merely  a  phi- 
losophy, a  theory  to  be  accepted  or 
rejected  by  logical  argument.  It  is 
a  mode  of  life,  a  principle  of  con- 
duct, to  be  tested  by  experiment. 
And  if  you  do  really  desire  to 
believe,  is  it  not  foolish  to  refuse  to 
make  the  experiments  by  which 
alone  a  true  and  saving  faith  can  be 
reached? 

And  this  leads  us  to  notice  that 
the  exhortation  to  "taste  and  see" 
has  an  equal  application  to  many 
who  are  not  thorough  untelievers, 


134       THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF. 

but  who  accept  intellectually  the 
essential  doctrines  of  Christianity, 
and  acknowledge  the  supernatural 
origin  of  the  Bible  and  the  divinity 
of  Christ,  yet  hold  back,  hesitating, 
refusing  to  become  Christians,  be- 
cause there  are  details  which  they 
do  not  quite  understand,  and  because 
there  are  some  doctrines  which  they 
can  hardly  believe. 

When  conscience  urges  them  to 
turn  to  Christ  for  salvation,  they  set 
to  work  first  to  argue  away  their 
doubts,  and  to  get  their  theory  of 
religion  all  complete  and  consistent 
before  they  will  accept  the  offered 
mercy,  or  declare  themselves  on  the 
Lord's  side.  One  says:  "I  would 
like  to  be  a  Christian,  but  I  do  not 
understand  how  there  can  be  sin  in 
a  universe  created  and  governed  by 
an  infinitely  holy,  wise  and  powerful 
God."  And  he  thinks  he  must  solve 
that  mystery  before  he  can  be  a  true 
Christian.  Another  cannot  satisfy 
himself  in  regard  to  the  doctrine  of 


THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF.       135 

predestination,  and  he  will  not  trust 
Christ  as  his  Savior  until  that  matter 
is  settled.  A  third  stumbles  at  the 
doctrine  of  eternal  punishment,  and 
will  not  go  a  step  further  until  that 
obstacle  is  removed.  They  stand 
and  argue  and  debate  and  object,  as 
if  their  Christianity  depended  upon 
the  clearing  up  of  all  those  dark  and 
mysterious  subjects. 

To  all  such  the  text  speaks,  "0 
taste  and  see  that  the  Lord  is  good." 
Stop  talking,  stop  arguing,  and  put 
God  to  the  test.  Try  the  experi- 
ment, and  you  will  soon  believe  all 
that  it  is  necessary  for  you  to  believe ; 
and  your  belief  will  not  be  a  dead 
theory,  but  a  living  and  life-giving 
principle  which,  under  the  Spirit's 
leading,  will,  in  the  end,  include  all 
truth.  While  even  now  your  exper- 
iment will  bring  peace  to  your  soul 
and  make  your  w^hole  life  nobler  and 
more  worthy. 

We  now  come  to  the  important, 
practical  question — How  are  these 


130       THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF. 

experiments  to  be  made?  What 
tests  can  we  properly  apply  to  Chris- 
tianity in  order  to  discover  by  per- 
sonal experience  whether  it  be  true? 
Of  course  we  must  be  careful  to  test 
Christianity  as  it  really  is  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  not  as  it  is  in  our 
notions. 

When  the  Jews  demanded  that 
Christ  should  give  them  a  sign  from 
Heaven,  that  is,  that  He  should  pro- 
duce some  wondrous  spectacle  in  the 
sky,  they  were  applying  no  proper 
test  to  His  claims.  He  was  not  a 
mere  wonder-worker.  His  miracles 
were  all  wrought  to  illustrate  and 
enforce  spiritual  truths,  and  when 
they  clamored  for  a  mere  wonder  to 
impress  their  senses,  they  were  not 
testing  Jesus  according  to  what  He 
claimed  to  be,  but  according  to  their 
own  unworthy  and  carnal  notions  of 
what  the  promised  Messiah  should 
be  and  do.  So,  also,  when  Professor 
Tyndall  suggested  that  the  utility  of 
prayer  should  be  tested  by  all  the 


THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF.       137 

churches  praying  for  a  certain  thing, 
to  see  whether  it  would  be  granted, 
he  simply  displayed  his  ignorance  of 
the  Christian  doctrine  of  prayer — of 
its  nature  and  use,  as  taught  in  the 
Scriptures.  His  proposed  tes  t  would 
have  proved  nothing,  one  way  or  the 
other,  in  regard  to  the  real  value  of 
prayer.  It  would  only  have  illus- 
trated the  folly  of  Professor  Tyn- 
dall's  notion  of  prayer.  A  notion 
which  is  no  less  foolish  and  unsciip- 
tural  because,  unfortunately,  many 
good  Christians  seem  to  hold  and 
advocate  it. 

And  so  in  regard  to  Christianity 
as  a  whole,  if  you  were  to  demand 
that  the  Almighty  should  write  a 
declaration  of  its  truth  on  this  wall 
in  letters  of  fire,  that  would  be  no 
proper  test  at  all,  for  Christianity 
has  never  pretended  that  anything 
of  the  kind  would  ever  be  done. 
And,  if  it  should  be  done,  it  would 
prove  nothing  as  to  the  real  vnlue 
and  efficacy  of  our  religion — it  would 


133       THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF. 

have  no  power  to  convince  a  single 
mind  of  any  spiritual  truth;  or  if 
you  demand  that  worldly  prosperity 
and  success  should  be  the  results  of 
becoming  religious,  and  decide  that 
religion  is  a  delusion  because  these 
results  do  not,  in  many  instances, 
follow  the  practice  of  piety;  or  if 
you  insist  that  God  should  make 
you  perfect  and  sinless  before  you 
will  believe  His  word  or  put  your 
trust  in  Him;  these  experiments 
would  be  utterly  worthless,  because 
utterly  inapplicable.  You  would  be 
merely  testing  your  own  precon- 
ceived idea  of  what  God  ought  to  be, 
and  of  what  Christianity  ought  to 
effect,  and  not  at  all  the  God  and  the 
Christianity  of  the  Bible. 

Still  another  wrong  and  unwar- 
rantable test,  which  many  will  insist 
upon  applying  to  Christianity,  is 
this:  they  require  that  the  Spirit  of 
God  should  so  work  upon  them  as  to 
produce  some  sudden  and  over- 
whelming excitement  of  the  feelings, 


THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF.       139 

and  they  demand  that  before  they 
yield  to  Christ  their  faith  and  obedi- 
ence, they  shall  be  made  conscious 
of  some  mystical  supernatural  influ- 
ence, which  shall  bear  them  along  as 
on  a  flood  toward  God  and  truth. 
And  since  this  proof  is  not  given 
them,  they  will  not  believe — they 
will  not  obey.  But  this  is  no  proper 
test — for,  while  it  is  true  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  does  in  some  instances 
manifest  His  presence  and  His  power 
in  such  manner,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Apostle  Paul,  yet  far  more  frequently 
it  is  through  the  ordinary  operations 
of  the  mind  and  in  the  common 
events  of  life,  and  by  the  clear 
teachings  of  the  Bible,  that  He 
speaks  to  the  human  soul  and  leads 
it  to  submit  to  His  heavenly  [guid- 
ance. And  surely  we  may  not 
demand  of  Him  a  method  of  con- 
version which  He  has  not  promised 
to  follow. 

But  now  let  us  look  at  some  of 
the  tests  which  may  be  legitimately 


140      THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF. 

and  effectually  applied  to  Christian- 
ity. 

It  is  recorded  that  when  Jesus  was 
on  the  earth,  He  gave  this  invitation 
and  made  this  promise — "Come 
unto  me  all  ye  that  labor  and  are 
heavy  laden  and  I  will .  give  you 
rest."  And  to  this  day  Christianity 
makes  much  of  this,  and  asserts 
distinctly  and  confidently,  staking 
its  truth  upon  the  assertion,  that 
any  man  who  will  go  to  Christ  and 
ask  His  help  will  find  rest  and  peace 
for  his  soul.  Now,  you  have  sins 
that  burden  you.  Does  not  con- 
science often  remind  you  of  them? 
Do  they  not  at  times  lie  heavy  on 
your  soul?  You  cannot,  I  am  sure, 
think  peacefully  and  joyfully  of  the 
hour  when  you  must  stand  before 
your  Maker  and  give  account  of  the 
deeds  done  in  the  body.  The 
thought  of  judgment,  and  of  the 
dark  uncertainty  that  shrouds  the 
future,  oppresses  you  with  a  vague 
feeling  of  dread.  Here,  then,  you 


THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF.        141 


may  test  God.  Now  you  can  try 
Christianity,  and  find  out  for  your- 
self whether  it  be  true.  Go  to  Jesus 
Christ  with  all  your  weary  burden. 
Go,  even  if  you  are  not  sure  that  He 
can  hear  you  or  help  you,  and  cry— 
"  0  thou  ^iat  takest  away  the  sin  of 
the  world,  take  away  my  sin,"  and 
if  you  mean  it  —  if  you  are  willing  to 
part  with  all  the  sweetness  of  sin  as 
well  as  with  its  bitterness  —  then,  if 
there  is  any  truth  in  our  religion, 
that  prayer  will  be  heard,  and  you 
wrill  soon  be  able  to  exclaim,  in  the 
assurance  of  a  triumphant  faith,  "I 
know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth." 

Or  you  have  sorrows  that  are 
heavy  to  bear.  They  have  no  ele- 
ment of  brightness  or  hope  in  them, 
but  they  darken  all  your  life  with 
their  deep,  unintelligible  misery. 
Now  you  can  apply  the  acid  and  see 
whether  the  shining  metal  be  indeed 
pure  gold.  Take  your  heavy-laden 
soul  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  plead  His 
promise,  and  ask  for  light  and  com- 


142      THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF. 

fort,  and  then,  if  Christ  be  true,  you 
will  find  rest.  And  even  in  your 
sore  affliction  you  will  discover  a 
wise  and  loving  purpose.  Through 
the  mist  of  your  tears  you  will  recog- 
nize your  Father's  face,  and  the 
peace  of  God,  which  msseth  all 
understanding,  will  keep  your  heart 
and  mind. 

Again,  Jesus  declares  that  the 
Heavenly  Father  will  give  His  Holy 
Spirit  to  those  who  ask  Him.  And 
He  says,  "Blessed  are  the  pure  in 
heart,  for  they  shall  see  God."  Now, 
do  you  really  desire  to  believe? 
Would  you  indeed  be  convinced? 
Would  you  know  the  truth  of  this 
Savior?  Then  make  the  experiment. 
Ask  for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  enlighten 
and  guide  you.  Purify  your  heart. 
Walk  in  the  ways  of  holiness.  Aim 
steadily  at  truth  in  speech  and  con- 
duct. Set  about  a  life  of  careful 
obedience  to  the  precepts  of  the 
Bible;  and  then,  unless  Christianity 
is  a  falsehood  and  a  failure,  you 


THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF.        143 

shall  see  God — you  shall  come  to  a 
clear,  trusting,  confiding  knowledge 
of  Him.  The  twilight  of  doubt,  nay, 
the  very  night  of  unbelief,  will  be- 
come the  bright  noonday  of  assured 
faith. 

These  and  such  as  these  are  the 
proper  practical  tests  by  which  to 
try  Christianity.  In  this  way  you 
may  "taste  and  see  that  the  Lord  is 
good."  And  not  until  you  have 
thoroughly  and  faithfully  made  these 
experiments  and  found  them  to  fail, 
can  you  honestly  claim  that  you 
cannot  believe  in  Christ.  If  the 
arguments  for  Christianity  do  not 
convince  you;  if  the  testimony  of 
Christians  to  the  reality  of  their 
experiences  is  insufficient  evidence 
for  you;  yet  this  method,  this  best 
and  only  sure  method,  still  remains. 
Taste,  and  you  will  see  that  the 
Lord  is  good. 

Some  of  us  have  made  this  per- 
sonal trial  of  Jesus  Christ  and  His 
promises,  and  now  we  believe,  not 


144       THE  EXPERIMENTAL  PROOF. 

because  it  is  reasonable,  not  because 
we  have  been  told  by  others,  but 
because  we  have  experienced  His 
love  and  His  truth.  Our  experiment 
has  been  successful  and  satisfactory. 
Now,  will  not  you  make  the  trial? 

Is  it  not  the  part  of  a  wise  man, 
is  it  not  the  part  of  a  fair-minded 
man,  to  prove  all  things  and  to  hold 
fast  that  which  is  good? 


VII. 
Sin. 


VII. 


1  JOHN  iii,  4.     "Sin  is  the  transgression  of  the 
Law." 


SIN  is  an  ugly  word  and  stands 
for  an  ugly  thing.  It  is  not  a  pleas- 
ant or  attractive  subject  to  contem- 
plate. To  drag  out  into  the  light 
and  hold  up  to  view,  to  look  at  and 
meditate  upon  the  sinfulness  of  the 
human  heart,  and  all  the  horrid  con- 
sequences of  that  sinfulness,  is  by 
no  means  an  agreeable  occupation. 
And  because  it  is  not  agreeable, 
many  people  object  to  its  being  done 
under  any  circumstances. 

Why  not  dismiss  so  gloomy  a  sub- 
ject? they  say.  Why  give  it  any 
prominence  whatever  ?  Certainly 
there  is  present  actual  misery  and 
sorrow  enough  in  the  world,  without 
affrighting  us  with  this  grim  spectre 


148  SIN. 

of  guilt  and  its  ghostly  train  of  at- 
tendant woes.  The  preacher  should 
seek  to  make  life  brighter,  not  dark- 
er. Pleasant  themes  should  be  pre- 
sented in  the  pulpit.  The  church 
should  be  a  place  of  joy  and  peace. 
Religion  should  be  made  attractive. 
The  love  of  God  should  be  dwelt 
upon.  His  fatherly  goodness  and 
tender  pity  should  be  set  forth  with 
emphasis,  and  only  those  subjects 
that  are  calculated  to  draw  and  win 
men  should  be  preached  about. 

Ah  !  how  glad  would  we  be  if  the 
facts  of  the  case  would  warrant  such 
a  course.  But,  alas,  they  will  not, 
and  the  minister  who  adopts  that 
pleasant  theory  as  the  plan  of  his 
ministry  is  recreant  to  his  duty,  dis- 
loyal to  his  Master,  and  unfaithful 
to  his  people. 

It  is  our  business,  as  ambassadors 
of  the  Great  King,  to  speak  from 
the  Word  of  God  concerning  the  life 
of  men;  and  since  both  the  Word  of 
God  and  human  life  are  full  of  this 


SIN.  149 

subject;  since  it  is  the  most  conspic- 
uous fact  in  human  experience,  and 
the  Bible  refers,  to  it  on  every  page, 
certainly,  if  we  leave  out  sin  and  its 
punishment,  we  cannot  be  true  to 
our  commission. 

And,  besides,  if  we  do  shut  our 
^yes  to  these  facts;  if  we  refuse 
to  consider  them;  if  we  succeed 
in  dismissing  from  our  minds  all 
the  painful  thoughts,  the  fears 
and  misgivings  to  which  they  give 
rise;  we  do  not  in  this  way  oblit- 
erate the  facts.  We  do  not  get 
rid  of  sin.  We  do  not  escape  its 
punishment.  We  are  simply  like 
the  debtor,  who  has  not  the  moral 
courage  to  examine  his  accounts, 
and  who,  rather  than  think  about 
the  disagreeable  subject  of  his  debts, 
allows  his  affairs  to  run  to  still 
greater  confusion,  and  to  final  and 
irretrievable  ruin.  Or  we  are  like 
one  afflicted  with  some  secret  dis- 
ease, who  refuses  to  call  in  the 
physician,  or  to  take  any  medicine 


150  SIN. 

because  it  makes  him  unhappy  to  be 
reminded  that  he  is  sick. 

To  avoid  the  consideration  of  facts, 
simply  because  they  are  painful  or 
disquieting,  is  weak  and  cowardly, 
and  it  does  no  good. 

Moreover,  we  can  only  rise  to  an 
adequate  conception  of  God's  love  in 
the  recognition  of  our  own  sinfulness. 
We  can  only  experience  the  full  joy 
of  salvation,  as  we  realize  what  it 
is  from  which  we  are  being  saved. 

The  fair,  radiant,  joy-giving  pic- 
ture of  Jesus  Christ  as  our  Savior 
and  friend,  can  only  shine  forth  in 
its  full  beauty  and  lustre,  from  the 
dark  background  of  that  estate  of 
sin  and  misery  from  which  He  re- 
deems us. 

Let  us,  therefore,  honestly,  man- 
fully, fearlessly,  look  at  this  terrible 
and  universal  fact,  and  endeavor,  in 
the  light  of  revelation  and  experi- 
ence, to  understand  what  sin  is,  so 
that  we  may  the  better  know  how 
we  can  be  saved  from  it. 


SIN.  151 


Many  crude  and  incorrect  notions 
prevail  in  regard  to  the  nature  of 
sin,  and  this  error  and  confusion 
lead  to  very  sad  practical  results. 

Thus,  there  are  those  who  esteem 
:as  sin  only  such  acts  as  are  against 
the  law  of  the  land;  to  commit  mur- 
der, to  steal,  to  forge  another  man's 
name — these  crimes,  and  such  as 
these,  cover  all  that  the  word  sin 
means  to  them. 

Others  advance  a  step  beyond  this, 
and  include  in  their  idea  of  sin  all 
acts  that  are  contrary  to  the  law  of 
public  opinion,  and  the  customs  and 
morals  of  civilized  life.  They  admit 
that  drunkenness,  impurity,  pro- 
fanity, lying,  indeed  vices  of  all 
kinds  are  sinful.  But,  if  they  avoid 
immorality,  then  they  cannot  be 
charged  with  sin. 

Still  others,  having  deeper  insight 
and  taking  a  wider  view,  find  sin, 
not  only  in  the  outward  act,  but  in 
the  thoughts  and  feelings  and  desires 
of  the  heart,  even  when  these  are 


152  SIN. 

not  expressed  in  action.  They  re- 
cognize the  fact  that  envy  and  cov- 
etousness,  and  hatred,  and  lust,  no 
matter  how  secretly  they  may  be- 
hidden  from  the  eyes  of  men,  are 
in  themselves  sinful  and  corrupt,  and 
defile  the  man  who  indulges  them. 
And  so  they  make  it  their  aim  to  be 
rid  of  all  such  evil  thoughts  and 
feelings  and  desires,  and  with  that 
they  are  satisfied.  They  say:  "If 
we  do  not  harbor  ill  will  to  those 
who  have  injured  us;  if  we  are  not 
envious  of  those  who  are  better  off'*v 
if  we  keep  our  minds  clean  and  inno- 
cent, surely  we  cannot  be  called  sin- 
ners." 

In  this  way  men  set  up  their  own 
theories,  and  try  themselves  accord- 
ing to  a  standard  of  their  own  cre- 
ation, and  then  complacently  assume 
that  they  are  without  sin.  And  yet, 
while  they  thus  justify  themselves, 
they  cannot  altogether  escape  the 
conviction  that  after  all  they  are  not 
quite  what  they  ought  to  be — not- 


SIN.  1C3 

quite  what  they  were  intended  to  be. 
Conscience  is  not  entirely  satisfied. 
The  uneasy  question  whispers  itself 
in  their  hearts— "What  lack  I  yet?" 

When  we  turn  to  God's  Word, 
when  we  leave  all  human  notions 
and  theories,  and  seek  simply  to 
discover  what  God  has  revealed 
concerning  sin,  we  see  how  shallow 
and  inadequate  all  these  theories 
are.  The  Bible  teaches  us  that  not 
only  are  crimes  and  vices  and  evil 
-thoughts  sin,  but  the  neglect  of 
active  practical  goodness  is  equally 
sin.  If  we  fail  to  do  good  to  our 
fellow  men;  if  we  fail  to  glorify  God 
by  acknowledging  Him  and  worship- 
ing Him;  this  failure  is  sin.  "He 
that  knoweth  to  do  good  and  doeth 
it  not,  to  Him  it  is  sin."  It  is  de- 
clared that  the  heathen  are  con- 
demned, because  when  they  knew 
God  they  did  not  glorify  Him  as 
God. 

Nor  does  the  Bible  stop  here.  It 
goes  still  further;  it  penetrates  still 


154  SIN. 

deeper,  and  discovers  sin  in  the 
absence  of  certain  thoughts  from  the 
mind,  and  in  the  absence  of  certain 
emotions  from  the  heart.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Word  of  God,  if  we  fail 
to  entertain  and  cultivate  a  positive, 
sincere,  hearty  love  for  God  and  for 
our  fellow  men,  then,  no  matter  how 
devout  we  may  be  in  the  forms  of 
worship,  and  no  matter  how  liberal 
our  charitable  gifts  may  be,  we  are 
still  sinners  and  under  the  condem- 
nation of  the  law. 

Thus  we  see  that,  if  the  Bible  be 
true,  though  a  man  be  not  guilty  of 
any  crime;  though  he  have  no  vices; 
though  he  cherish  no  hard  feelings, 
no  evil  thoughts;  though  he  give  all 
his  goods  to  feed  the  poor;  though, 
in  the  fervor  of  his  religious  devo- 
tion, he  give  his  body  to  be  burned 
as  a  supreme  act  of  worship,  he  may 
still,  in  spite  of  all  this,  be  guilty 
before  God — a  sinner,  condemned 
and  lost. 

Let  us  now  try  to  see  just  why  it 


SIN.  155 

is  that  this  must  be  true,  and  so  be 
able  to  "justify  the  ways  of  God  to 
men." 

Our  text  declares  that  "  Sin  is  the 
transgression  of  the  law,"  or  as  it  is 
in  the  revised  version,  "Sin  is  law- 
lessness "• —disregard  of  law.  But 
what  is  the  law,  the  transgression  or 
disregard  of  which  is  sin?  Our  Lord 
Jesus  Himself  says — "Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and 
mind  and  strength — this  is  the  first 
.and  great  commandment,  and "  the 
second  is  like  unto  it,  namely:  thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thy  self. 
On  these  two  commandments  hang 
all  the  law  and  the  prophets."  Now 
this  law,  thus  endorsed  and  empha- 
sized by  Jesus  Christ,  is  not  a  mere 
arbitrary  decree,  of  an  Almighty 
King.  It  is  not  simply  a  command. 
It  is  rather  the  statement  of  the  rule 
or  order  of  our  true  life.  It  is  the 
revelation  of  the  divine  plan  of  our 
existence.  It  declares  the  method  by 


156  SIN. 

which,  according  to  the  original  con- 
stitution of  our  nature,  we  are  to 
accomplish  the  purpose  for  which 
we  were  created. 

We  find  in  all  the  works  of  God 
clear  evidence  that  they  were  made 
to  fulfill  certain  ends,  and  the 
scheme  or  plan  of  existence,  by 
which  each  thing  accomplishes  the 
end  designed,  is  the  law  of  its 
being,  impressed  upon  it  at  its  crea- 
tion. Thus  the  rivers  flow  in  their 
channels,  and  the  forests  give  their 
shade,  and  the  orchards  bring  forth 
fruit,  and  fire  gives  forth  light  and 
heat,  and  the  atmosphere  encom- 
passes the  earth  to  soften  the  rays 
of  the  glowing  sun,  and  all  the  hosts 
of  Heaven  move  on  in  their  ap- 
pointed orbits;  and  each  fulfills  its 
destiny  and  accomplishes  the  design 
of  its  creator.  Each  thing  in  the 
universe  is  under  law,  and  obedient 
to  law,  and  exists  only  according  to 
the  plan  of  existence  ordained  for  it 
from  the  beginning.  And  it  is  in 


SIN.  157 

consequence  of  this  obedience  to 
law  that  we  have  the  sublime  and 
beautiful  harmony  of  nature,  all 
things  working  together  in  perfect 
accord.  For  we  know  that  all  appa- 
rent conflicts  and  contradictions  in 
the  material  universe;  all  the  so- 
called  strife  of  the  elements;  all  the 
fickleness  of  the  winds;  all  the 
eccentricities  of  meteors  and  comets, 
are  very  different,  indeed,  yet  really 
harmonious  notes  in  one  grand 
chorus  of  praise  to  the  Creator  and 
Ruler  of  all. 

From  that  far-off  beginning,  when 
God  created  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  all  things  have  thus  fol- 
lowed, unswervingly,  the  law  of 
their  being,  and  till  the  earth  shall 
be  consumed  and  the  heavens  rolled 
up  as  a  scroll,  all  things  will  and 
must  continue  in  absolute  perfect 
submission  to  law. 

But  man  is  not  a  thing.  He  is  a 
power.  Made  in  the  image  of  God, 
endowed  with  intelligence  and  will, 


158  SIN. 

he  is  able  to  break  the  law  of  his 
Toeing;  he  is  able  to  choose  a  plan  of 
existence  different  from  that  which 
his  Creator  designed;  he  is  able  to 
disregard  the  original  constitution 
of  his  nature.  And  it  is  this  ability, 
this  freedom  to  choose  between 
obedience  and  disobedience,  that 
places  him  in  the  scale  of  being 
above  all  created  things.  It  is  this 
that  makes  possible  his  immortal 
.glory  and  dignity.  It  is  this  that 
drew  from  Heaven  the  Son  of  God 
to  die  for  his  salvation. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  great  primal, 
fundamental  law  of  man's  existence 
is  love — a  law  which  could  only  be 
arranged  for  beings  capable  of  dis- 
regarding it.  Men  were  made  to  be 
in  conscious  intelligent  harmony 
with  their  fellowmen;  not  simply  to 
abstain  from  injuring  one  another; 
not  simply  to  bargain  and  traffic 
with  one  another;  not  simply  to  live 
together  in  outward  intercourse;  but 
to  recognize  and  live  in  accordance 


SIN.  150 

with  the  fact  that  all  their  highest 
interests  are  common  interests;  to 
see  in  every  other  member  of  the 
human  race  a  brother  and  to  treat 
him  as  such;  to  feel  and  to  manifest 
an  active  practical  affection  for  all 
men;  to  seek,  each  one,  not  his  own, 
but  the  things  of  others.  So,  too, 
men  were  made  to  have  conscious 
fellowship  with  God  their  Creator; 
not  simply  to  live  on  His  bounty, 
and  to  depend  upon  His  goodness; 
not  simply  to  obey  in  outward  act 
His  decrees,  and  to  speak  His  praise 
with  the  lips.  But  they  were  made 
to  enter  into  His  plans;  to  sympa- 
thize with  His  thoughts;  to  rejoice 
in  His  holy  purposes;  to  love  what 
He  loves;  to  hate  what  He  hates;  to 
delight  in  all  His  will;  to  give  love 
for  love. 

This  i«  the  design  of  man's  cre- 
ation, and  this  is  the  plan  according 
to  which  his  chief  end  is  to  be 
attained.  And  what  a  glorious  plan 
it  is.  Think  of  the  countless  mill- 


160  SIN. 

ions  of  all  generations  living  from 
age  to  age  in  perfect  love  and  har- 
mony with  each  other;  filling  the 
earth  with  the  sweetness  of  univer- 
sal peace  and  brotherhood;  all  hu- 
man tongues  musical  with  words  of 
pure  affection;  all  human  activities 
fragrant  with  deeds  of  unselfish 
kindness.  Think  of  this  harmonious, 
united  humanity,  together  with  the 
principalities  and  powers,  the  angels 
and  archangels,  the  spiritual  intelli- 
gences that  throng  the  heavenly 
places,  all  held  in  one  by  a  common 
sentiment  of  supreme  absorbing  af- 
fection for  the  Eternal  Author  of 
their  beini?;  the  God  and  Father  of 
all. 

Such  is  the  ideal  of  human  exist- 
ence. Such  is  the  law  for  man. 
And  now  is  it  not  evident  that  any- 
thing in  man's  will,  in  his  desires,  in 
his  conduct,  that  tends  to  interrupt 
this  harmony;  anything  that  is  not 
in  strict  accordance  with  this  law  is 
nn?  For  sin  is  the  transgression  of 


SIN.  161 

the  laic,  and  the  law  for  man  is  love, 
and  so  any  thought,  or  word,  or  act, 
in  disregard  of  love,  is  and  must  be 
sin.  Not  crime  alone  which  vio- 
lently assails  another's  rights  and 
happiness,  and  openly  flouts  the 
divine  command;  not  vice  and  im- 
morality alone ;  not  evil  thoughts  and 
corrupt  passions  alone,  but  selfish- 
ness, mere  passive  indifference  to 
God  and  our  fellow  men  is  lawless- 
ness, and  therefore  sin. 

Indeed,  we  may  go  still  further 
and  see  that  this  neglect  of  the  law 
must  necessarily  result  in  misery. 
Because  we  have  this  wonderful 
power  of  transgressing  the  law  of 
our  being,  we  do  not,  therefore, 
dethrone  God,  we  do  not  escape  the 
reign  of  law.  There  is  another  law 
that  supplements  the  one  we  have 
broken  and  revenges  it.  "The  soul 
that  sinneth,  it  shall  die."  And 
under  the  operation  of  this  law  we 
bring  ourselves,  when  we  » rebel 
against  the  law  of  love.  And  this 


162  SIN. 

also  is  no  arbitrary  decree.  This 
also  is  the  statement  of  a  natural 
and  necessary  sequence,  resulting 
from  the  very  constitution  of  the 
soul.  It  is  the  declaration  of  a 
principle,  without  which  the  uni- 
verse is  unthinkable.  By  way  of  illus- 
tration, think  of  the  solar  system  in 
the  intricate  yet  beautiful  harmony 
of  its  movements.  Think  of  the 
planets,  with  their  attendant  satel- 
lites, their  moons,  their  rings,  each 
revolving  on  its  own  axis,  and  all,  in 
their  respective  orbits,  circling  about 
the  central  sun.  Obedient  to  the  law 
of  their  being,  they  act  and  react 
upon  one  another  through  the  ages, 
fulfilling  their  destiny,  and  suggest- 
ing to  the  poetic  mind  the  music  of 
the  spheres.  But  now  imagine  one  of 
these  worlds,  suddenly  endowed 
with  self-will  and  the  power  of 
choice;  imagine  it  refusing  to  revolve 
any  longer  on  its  axis,  refusing  to 
remain  in  its  orbit,  refusing  to  be 
obedient  to  law — does  not  science 


SIN.  163 

teach  us  that  it  would  immediately 
come  under  another  law,  even  a  law 
of  destruction?  Do  not  we  know 
that  it  would  but  plunge  itself  into 
ruin  and  desolation?  . 

Or,  to  come  nearer  home,  we  know 
in  our  own  experience  what  disas- 
trous effects  result  from  the  disre- 
gard of  law.  Thus  it  is  a  law  of  our 
physical  life  that  we  should  breathe 
pure  air,  and  we  know  that  if,  in 
transgression  of  this  law,  we  take 
into  our  lungs  certain  foul  and  poi- 
sonous gases,  then  our  lungs  will  be 
destroyed,  or  their  functions  sus- 
pended. So,  again,  it  is  a  law  of 
our  mental,  our  intellectual  life,  that 
the  mind  grows  strong  and  vigorous 
by  the  contemplation  of  truth,  by 
occupying  itself  with  pure  and  noble 
subjects  of  thought;  and  we  know 
that  if,  instead  of  obeying  this  law, 
we  keep  before  the  mind  falsehood 
and  error,  if  we  indulge  impure  and 
licentious  thoughts,  our  intellectual 
faculties  soon  become  enfeebled  and 


164  SIN. 

corrupt,  and  often  imbecility  or  mad- 
ness is  the  final  result  of  such  dis- 
regard of  law.  And  we  also  know 
that  no  human  power  can  change 
these  laws  or  prevent  these  results. 

And  now,  in  view  of  these  facts, 
is  it  not  certain  that  the  transgres- 
sion of  this  highest  law  of  man's 
spiritual  being  must  lead  to  results 
proportionately  disastrous?  .  Is  it 
not  certain  that  the  disregard  of  this 
law  of  love,  by  which  alone  we  can 
accomplish  our  true  destiny,  must 
produce  confusion  and  misery  in  our 
souls,  and  end  in  desolation  and 
death?  This  is  the  teaching  of  rea- 
son. This  is  the  warning  of  con- 
science. This  is  the  plain,  explicit 
declaration  of  the  Word  of  God. 

Such  is  our  lost,  hopeless  condi- 
tion. We  have  disregarded  the  true 
plan  of  our  life.  We  have  set  our- 
selves against  the  design  of  our  cre- 
ation. We  have  broken  the  LAW  OF 
LOVE,  and  so  we  have  come  under 
the  law  of  wrath  and  destruction. 


SIN.  165 

From  the  operation  of  this  law 
no  human  strength  can  deliver  us. 
No  man;  no  angel  or  archangel;  no 
wisdom  less  than  the  infinite  wisdom 
of  God,  could  devise  a  means  of 
escape  from  the  awful  effects  of  this 
law.  But,  blessed  be  God,  a  way  of 
escape  is  provided.  A  way  so  sim- 
ple, so  plain  that  the  wayfaring  man 
though  a  fool  need  not  err  therein— 
for  "God  so  loved  the  world  that  he 
gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  on  him  might 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life."  "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved." 

How  Christ  can  save  His  people 
from  their  sins;  how  He  can  make 
us  the  blessed,  immortal  children  of 
God,  and  at  the  same  time  maintain 
the  order  of  the  universe  and  the 
law  of  sin  and  death;  how  He  can 
restore  in  us  the  law  of  love  and 
life,  there  is  not  time  now  to  con- 
sider; nor  indeed  could  we  ever  in 
this  world  fully  solve  the  mystery. 


166  SIN* 

But,  unless  He,  the  purest,  the- 
noblest,  the  truest,  the  wisest  being 
that  ever  trod  the  earth  was  a  false, 
fanatical  impostor;  unless  the  myri- 
ads who  have  found  righteousness 
and  peace  in  Him  have  been  grossly 
deceived,  He  can  and  will  accom- 
plish this  great  salvation  for  all  who 
believe  on  Him  and  trust  themselves 
to  Him.  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth 
and  the  life,"  He  declares;  "none 
cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  me," 
but  "  Whosoever  cometh  unto  me  I 
will  in  no  wise  cast  out." 

Do  you  know  of  any  other  deliv- 
erer? Where  is  he?  What  is  his 
name?  Do  you  see  any  other  door 
of  hope  opening  before  you?  In 
\yhat  direction  does  it  lie? 


VIII. 
Eegeneration. 


VIII. 

JOHN  iii,  3.  "  Verily,  verily  I  say  unto  thee,  except 
a  man  be  born  again  he  cannot  see  the  Kingdom  of 
God." 

A  WITTY  French  woman  once  said: 
4 'My  consent  was  not  asked  when  I 
was  born"-— implying  that  the  re- 
sponsibility of  her  life  and  her  des- 
tiny did  not  rest  upon  herself,  but 
upon  her  Maker.  And  in  this  she 
gave  expression  to  what  is,  I  believe, 
a  very  common  thought  among  men. 
They  silence  the  reproaches  of  con- 
science, they  quiet  their  apprehen- 
sions of  judgment,  they  repel  the 
advances  of  religion,  on  the  ground 
that,  after  all,  they  are  what  God 
made  them.  They  have  had  no 
choice  in  regard  to  their  inherited 
tendencies,  and  very  little  in  regard 
to  their  circumstances.  And,  there- 
fore, as  a  man's  character  and  con- 


170  REGENERATION. 

duct  are  the  result  of  heredity  and 
environment,  i.  e.,  as  our  thoughts 
and  feelings  and  actions  are  due  to 
qualities  with  which  we  were  born, 
and  to  circumstances  over  which  we 
have  no  control,  we  cannot  be  held 
responsible,  and  we  need  not  worry 
ourselves  about  the  future.  And  so 
repentance  and  faith  and  all  this  fuss 
about  religion  are  idle  and  foolish. 
Let  us  live  on  naturally,  according 
to  our  own  bent  and  inclination,  and 
the  future  will  take  care  of  itself. 

So  men  talk,  and  turn  their  backs 
upon  Christianity  and  the  Church. 
But  their  position  is  utterly  false 
and  irrational,  because  the  premises 
upon  which  they  base  their  argu- 
ment are  not  true  to  the  facts. 

No  man  is  entirely  the  product 
of  inheritance  and  circumstances. 
There  is  a  third  something  which 
goes  to  make  up  the  character  of 
each  individual,  and  that  is  his  own 
personal  will,  or  power  of  choice. 
Heredity  and  environment  may  ac- 


REGENERATION.  171 

count  for,  and  be  responsible  for  a 
great  deal,  but  not  for  everything. 
Every  man  knows  that  his  natural 
inherited  disposition  and  tempera- 
ment have  been  more  or  less  modi- 
fied by  resistance  or  cultivation;  and 
•every  man  knows  that  again  and 
again  he  has  broken  through  or 
changed  his  circumstances,  accord- 
ing to  his  own  free  individual  choice; 
and  so,  in  this  margin  of  personal 
freedom,  there  is  abundant  room  for 
responsibility.  In  spite  of  all  argu- 
ments to  the  contrary,  men  know 
that  they  are  responsible  for  many 
of  their  thoughts  and  feelings  and 
actions. 

But  let  us  suppose  that  this  re- 
sponsibility is,  after  all,  a  very  small 
matter;  that  man's  power  of  will  is 
so  circumscribed  and  insignificant 
that  he  really  is  not  able  to  do  much 
with  himself;  4hat  he  really  cannot 
make  himself  much  better  or  much 
worse  than  his  birth  and  his  circum- 
stances have  made  him;  that  in  his 


172  REGENERATION. 

daily  life,  he  is  certainly  unable 
to  reach,  or  even  to  approach  the 
standard  of  truth  and  purity  and 
unselfishness,  which  his  own  judg- 
ment approves  as  his  proper  ideal. 

This,  indeed,  is  simply  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Bible.  It  is  what  is 
meant,  by  the  statement  in  our 
"Confession  of  Faith,"  that  "Man, 
by  his  fall  into  a  state  of  sin,  hath 
wholly  lost  all  ability  of  will  to  any 
spiritual  good  accompanying  salva- 
tion"; i.  0.,  by  the  sin  of  Adam,  and 
the  general  corruption  of  his  ances- 
tors, each  individual  man  has,  by  the 
law  of  heredity,  received  such  a  bias 
of  his  whole  nature  toward  evil,  that 
he  is  utterly  incapable  of  leading  a 
good  and  holy  life.  But  if  this  be 
so,  why  is  not  the  French  woman 
right? — "My  consent  was  not  asked 
when  I  was  born."  And  having  been 
thus,  through  no  choice  of  my  own,, 
born  to  such  a  devilish  inheritance, 
how  can  I  help  it,  and  how  am  I  to 
blame  if  I  go  to  the  devil? 


REGENERATION.  17$ 

It  were  aside  from  the  object  of 
this  sermon  to  consider  what  the 
answer  to  that  question  would  be, 
if  there  were  no  gospel.  Whether 
your  involuntary  birth  as  a  member 
of  a  lost  and  ruined  race  would,  of 
itself,  have  involved  your  personal 
loss  and  ruin,  is  a  question  which, 
in  the  present  connection,  is  of  no 
importance.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
there  is  a  gospel  of  salvation  to  the 
lost.  And  that  gospel  proclaims 
the  possibility,  for  every  man,  of  a 
second  birth.  So  that,  even  though 
it  be  true  that  you  have  been  born 
of  the  flesh,  without  your  consent, 
to  a  corrupt,  sinful  nature  which  in- 
clines you  irresistibly  toward  evil, 
yet  there  is  now  the  opportunity 
offered  you  of  being  born  again  of 
the  Spirit  of  God,  and  this  second 
birth  is  a  matter  within  your  own 
choice.  That  is,  you  may,  if  you 
choose,  take  a  fresh  start;  you  may 
begin  life  anew,  with  your  nature  so 
transformed  and  made  over  that 


174  REGENERA  T10N. 

your  inclinations  and  desires  will 
henceforth  be  toward  God  and  good- 
ness. 

In  spite  of  the  drawbacks  and 
hindrances  which  result  from  your 
first  birth,  you  will  be  able  to  ad- 
vance toward  the  ideal  of  perfect 
manhood.  And  having,  by  this  sec- 
ond birth,  inherited  the  divine  nature, 
you  may  know  that,  according  to 
the  law  of  heredity,  you  will  become 
like  God;  or,  as  Paul  puts  it,  "con- 
formed to  the  image  of  His  Son." 

This  is  the  gospel.  This  is  the 
.good  news — salvation  for  the  lost; 
escape  for  those  in  bondage.  This  is 
the  doctrine  of  Regeneration— a  new 
.and  holy  birth  for  those  born  in  sin. 

Surely,  then,  if  God  has  made  this 
provision  for  us ;  if  He  has  indeed  so 
loved  the  world  as  to  give  His  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believ- 
eth  in  Him  might  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life,  it  is  evident,  is 
it  not,  that,  if  we  do  perish,  we  can- 
not lay  the  blame  upon  heredity? 


REGENERATION.  175- 

We  cannot  plead  that  we  were  born 
sinners  and  could  not  help  ii.  Here 
is  an  opportunity  to  choose,  and  if 
we  do  not  choose  aright  it  is  our 
own  fault,  Indeed,  how  can  we 
hope  to  escape,  if  w^e  neglect  so 
great  salvation? 

If  you  should  be  thrown,  without 
your  consent,  into  a  deep  and  turb- 
ulent flood,  with  no  ability  to  stem 
the  current,  and  in  your  extremity  a 
strong  swimmer  should  appear  and 
offer  to  bring  you  safely  ashore, 
would  you  say  "No;  I  was  thrown 
in  here.  My  consent  was  not  asked, 
and  I  have  no  responsibility  in  the 
matter"?  Surely,  since  rescue  was 
at  hand  and  you  refused  it,  your 
death  would  be  on  your  own  head. 
Or,  to  use  another  illustration:  here 
is  a  man  born  into  the  world  a  help- 
less, deformed  cripple.  We  pity 
him,  but  we  do  not  blame  him. 
Poor  fellow;  his  consent  was  not 
asked  when  he  was  born;  but  now, 
suppose  he  were  given  the  chance  of 


176  REGENERATION. 

Toeing  made  over — of  being  born 
again,  with  straight,  strong  limbs, 
and  having  this  opportunity,  should 
refuse  it,  would  he  not  now  be  as 
much  a  subject  for  blame  and  con- 
tempt as  for  pity — would  we  not 
rightly  feel  that  the  responsibility  of 
his  misery  was  henceforth  upon 
himself?  And  to  us,  poor  moral  and 
spiritual  cripples,  incapable  of  holi- 
ness, hampered  and  bound  down  by 
sinful  proclivities,  comes  the  Son  of 
God,  offering  health  and  strength. 
He  declares  to  all  who  are  born  in 
sin,  the  necessity,  and  therefore  the 
possibility  of  a  second  birth  by 
which  a  new  and  holy  nature  may 
be  imparted  to  us. 

This  is  the  force  and  application 
of  the  words  of  the  text.  Very 
solemnly  and  impressively  does 
Jesus  make  this  announcement  to 
Nicodemus:  "Verily,  verily,"  He 
begins — an  expression  which  He  uses 
only  on  occasions  of  the  greatest 
importance — "Verily,  verily,  I  say 


REG  EN  ERA  TION.  177 

unto  thee,  except  a  man  be  born 
again,  he  cannot  see  the  Kingdom 
of  God." 

You  notice  that  it  is  an  absolute 
and  universal  condition.  It  applies 
to  all  classes  and  conditions  of  men. 
He  does  not  say,  "Except  an  im- 
moral man  be  born  again;"  or,  "Ex- 
cept n,  vicious  man  be  born  again;" 
but  He  teaches  clearly  and  unmis- 
takably that  every  man,  whether  he 
foe  moral  or  immoral,  whether  he  be 
respectable  or  disreputable,  whether 
he  be  a  murderer  or  a  philanthropist ; 
yes,  Nicodemus  himself,  the  eminent 
Jewish  ruler,  as  well  as  Zacheus  the 
publican,  or  the  thief  on  the  cross— 
every  man,  by  reason  of  the  very 
fact  that  he  is  a  man,  needs  to  be 
born  again. 

And  it  is  an  absolute  necessity. 
There  is  no  perhaps  about  it.  Christ 
^cloes  not  tell  Nicodemus  that  it 
would  be  better  for  a  man  to  be  born 
again,  or  that  he  would  probably 
stand  a  better  chance  of  getting  to 


178  EEGENERA  TION. 

Heaven.  But  He  declares  positively 
and  without  qualification,  "Except 
a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see 
the  Kingdom  of  God."  And  so  the 
Church  teaches  this  doctrine  of  Re- 
generation,  or  the  new  birth,  as  one 
of  the  essential,  fundamental  truths 
of  the  Christian  religion. 

We  do  "not  say  that  a  man  cannot 
be  saved  unless  he  believes  the  doc- 
trine as  we  expound  it — that  would 
be  narrowness  and  bigotry;  but  we 
do  say  that  a  man  cannot  be  saved 
unless  he  experiences  the  fact;  and 
in  saying  that,  we  only  say  what 
Jesus  Christ  has  most  solemnly  and 
positively  asserted. 

Having  thus  declared  the  necessity 
of  being  born  again,  we  must  now 
consider  what,  practically,  this  nec- 
essary experience  is.  And  first,  it  is 
not  simply  a  reformation  of  the  outer 
life,  an  improvement  in  one's  morals. 
That  often  takes  place  while  the  man 
himself  remains  exactly  the  same 
man  he  always  was.  Any  one  of  a 


REGENERATION.  179 

hundred  motives  may  lead  a  man  to 
change  his  manners  and  his  conduct ; 
but  that  is  not  being  born  again,  any 
more  than  changing  one's  clothes  is 
being  born  again. 

Neither  is  regeneration  simply  the 
acceptance,  by  intellectual  belief,  of 
the  doctrines  and  truths  of  Chris- 
tianity. Many  a  man  changes  his 
views  of  theology,  without  experi- 
encing any  change  of  heart.  To 
become  orthodox  is  not  to  be  born 
again — to  be  thoroughly  sound  in  all 
the  philosophy  of  religion  is  not  to 
enter  the  Kindom  of  God.  Indeed, 
the  devils  believe — and  tremble.  A 
change  of  conduct,  then,  or  a  change 
of  belief,  or  both  together,  will  not 
meet  the  condition  which  our  Savior 
names,  but  there  must  be  a  change 
of  heart,  of  the  affections,  of  the 
will.  There  must  be  such  a  radical, 
deep -reaching  transformation  of  the 
whole  inner  life,  that  new  purposes 
will  be  formed,  new  desires  will 
yearn  and  sigh  in  the  heart,  new 


180  REGENERATION. 

hopes  and  ambitions,  never  felt  be- 
fore, will  begin  to  stir  in  the  breast. 
There  will  be  a  new  light  cast  upon 
everything.  And  the  man  thus  born 
again  will  see  all  things,  time  and 
eternity,  and  God  and  himself  and 
his  fellowmen  and  life  and  death  as 
they  never  appeared  to  him  in  his 
natural  state.  Above  all,  he  will  be 
conscious  of  a  personal  relation  with 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  is  full 
of  peace  and  joy;  he  leaning  upon 
the  Savior  with  faith  and  love,  and 
Christ  bestowing  upon  him  grace 
and  salvation.  In  a  word,  he  is  a 
new  man;  old  things  have  passed 
away,  behold  all  things  have  become 
new.  Let  me  illustrate:  Here,  we 
will  say,  is  a  man  who  has  been  lead- 
ing a  vicious,  criminal  life,  indulging 
his  passions,  and  even  recklessly 
breaking  the  laws  of  the  land.  After 
a  while  he  finds  that  his  health  is 
failing,  and,  besides,  he  is  in  great 
danger  of  being  arrested  for  his 
crimes  and  cast  into  prison,  and  so. 


REGENERATION.  181 

being  a  man  of  strong  will  power, 
lie  determines  to  reform  and  settle 
down  to  a  respectable  life,  and  act- 
ually does  reform,  simply  because 
he  is  convinced  that  it  pays  better 
to  be  decent.  Or.  here  is  a  man  too 
fond  of  his  cup.  He  is  in  the  habit 
of  getting  drunk  seven  nights  in  the 
week,  and  when  in  liquor  he  beats 
his  wife  and  ill-uses  his  children, 
but  he  is  a  big,  burly  fellow,  with  an 
arm  and  a  fist  like  a  sledge-hammer, 
and  some  of  his  friends  persuade 
him  to  go  into  training  for  a  prize- 
fight. And  now  what  a  change  takes 
place  in  his  life.  No  more  getting 
drunk  for  him.  For  weeks  and 
months  he  leads  an  abstemious, 
sober  life,  getting  himself  into  con- 
dition, and  the  poor  wife  and  puny 
children  think  they  are  in  Heaven. 
And  yet  it  is  easy  to  see  that  neither 
of  these  men  has  really  been  changed 
at  all  in  his  nature.  The  change  is 
all  outside,  on  the  surface;  the  heart 
remains  just  what  it  was  before. 


182  REGENERATION. 

But  suppose  that  the  Word  of  God 
should  come  to  these  men  and  their 
consciences  should  be  aroused,  and 
they  should  feel  the  awful  guilt  of 
their  sin,  and  be  led  to  cry  to  God 
for  mercy,  and  the  Spirit  of  God 
should  awaken  in  them  a  hatred  of 
sin  and  a  desire  for  holiness,  and 
then,  earnestly  seeking  to  be  God- 
like, they  should,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  walk  in  right  ways,  trusting  in 
Jesus  Christ  for  pardon  and  right- 
eousness: then  they  would  indeed  be 
new  men — men  made  over,  born 
again  of  the  Spirit.  Or,  once  more, 
here  is  a  selfish  man,  moral,  a  church- 
goer, a  most  respectable  citizen,  but 
selfish,  close-fisted.  Bye-and-bye 
he  comes  to  see  that  if  he  can  only 
gain  a  reputation  for  liberality  it 
will  greatly  advance  his  own  inter- 
ests, he  will  secure  more  honor  and 
a  better  position  and  even  make 
more  money,  and  so  he  begins  to 
open  his  purse  and  to  give  lavishly 
to  this  and  the  other  good  cause; 


REGENERA  TTO  N.  183 

and  men  praise  him,  and  wonder  at 
the  great  change  that  has  come  over 
him;  but  we,  knowing  why  he  has 
become  liberal,  know  that  he  is  just 
the  same  man;  that  he  has  not 
changed  at  all.  But  suppose  that 
in  that  selfish,  worldly  heart  the 
Spirit  of  God  had  been  at  work,  and 
the  love  of  Christ  in  dying  for  him 
had  awakened  his  gratitude,  and  the 
needs  and  miseries  of  his  fellowmen 
had  begun  to  press  upon  him,  and 
the  Divine  Spirit  had  brought  him 
Into  such  conscious  fellowship  with 
Christ,  that  his  strongest  desire  was 
to  be  like  Him  and  to  follow  in  His 
footsteps,  doing  good  to  all  men  as 
he  had  opportunity.  If  all  this  were 
the  cause  and  reason  of  his  unwont- 
ed liberality,  then,  indeed,  would 
the  man  himself  be  changed,  and  we 
might  well  say  that  he  was  "born 
again."  Thus  we  see  that  when 
Jesus  says  "Except  a  man  be  born 
again,  he  cannot  see  the  Kingdom  of 
God,"  He  means  something  very 


184  REGENERATION. 

real,  very  definite;  He  means  that, 
as  an  essential  condition  of  enter- 
ing Heaven,  a  man  must  be  rad- 
ically changed,  made  over,  so  that 
he  is  practically  a  new  man,  taking 
a  fresh  start  in  life,  with  a  new, 
heaven-born  nature. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  import- 
ant question:  How  is  this  great  ex- 
perience to  be  reached?  Already 
this  question  has  been  really  an- 
swered in  what  we  have  said  of  the 
nature  of  regeneration,  but  I  think 
it  will  be  well  for  us,  even  at  the 
risk  of  some  repetition,  to  answer  it 
again  at  this  point.  How  can  a  man 
be  born  again?  Not  by  a  direct  ex- 
ercise of  will  power.  The  will,  in- 
deed, has  much  to  do  with  it  indi- 
rectly, as  leading  up  to  it  and  in 
the  way  of  submission,  but  no  man 
can  will  himself  to  have  a  new  heart 
and  a  holy  character,  any  more  than 
he  can  will  himself  to  have  a  new 
body  and  a  healthy  constitution. 
Neither  can  this  change  be  pro- 


REG  EN  ERA  TION.  185 

duced  by  reason  and  argument;  for, 
though  a  man  should  convince  him- 
self, or  be  convinced  that  it  were  the 
wise  and  right  thing  for  him  to  have 
all  these  holy  desires  and  godly  affec- 
tions which  mark  the  regenerate  man, 
that  would  not  effect  the  transfor- 
mation of  his  nature.  And  certainly 
joining  the  church  does  not  secure 
the  new  birth.  One  might  as  well 
join  the  Free  Masons  or  the  state 
militia,  as  to  unite  with  the  church 
for  the  sake  of  obtaining  a  new  heart. 
No,  the  process  is  a  far  simpler  one, 
far  more  direct.  It  is  just  to  ask  for 
it,  as  a  free  gift,  from  God.  Regene- 
ration is  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit; 
it  is  the  result  of  a  supernatural, 
divine  influence  exerted  upon  the 
heart,  and  God  alone  can  accomplish 
it.  How  it  is  done — in  what  way 
God  acts  upon  the  soul  of  man  we' 
know  not.  ' '  The  wind  bio weth  where 
it  listeth;  we  hea'r  the  sound  thereof, 
but  cannot  tell  whence  it  corneth  or 
whither  it  goeth.  So  is  every  one 


186  REG  EN  ERA  TION. 

that  is  born  of  the  Spirit." 

It  is,  no  doubt,  a  great  mystery — 
this  new  birth — even  as  the  natural 
birth  is  a  great  mystery.  There  is 
much  about  it  that  we  cannot  compre- 
hend, far  less  explain;  but  this  we  do 
know,  that  "God  sent  not  His  Son 
into  the  world  to  condemn  the  \vorld, 
but  that  the  world  through  Him  might 
be  saved."  And  we  know  that  when 
we  believe  upon  Jesus  Christ  as  our 
Redeemer  and  Mediator,  and  in  His 
name  pray  for  light  and  peace,  God 
always,  without  one  single  exception, 
answers  that  prayer,  and  His  Spirit 
renews  the  heart;  "for,"  says  Christ 
Himself,  "if  ye,  being  evil,  know 
how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your 
children,  how  much  more  shall  your 
-heavenly  Father  give  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  them  that  ask  him."  Yes;  God 
is  our  Father,  and  as  a  father  He 
yearns  over  us  and  desires  our  per- 
fection and  our  happiness.  And  He 
is 'our  Father  still,  even  when,  like 
the  prodigal  son,  we  have  gone 


REGENERATION.  187 

away  from  Him  into  a  far  country, 
and  are  living  without  regard  to  His 
law,  careless  of  His  love.  And  so, 
because  He  is  our  Father,  whenever 
we  call  upon  Him,  He  will  hear  us. 
When  we  ask  Him  to  bless  and  save 
us,  He  is  more  than  willing  to  grant 
us  His  Holy  Spirit  and  to  lead  us 
into  all  truth.  And  no  man  ever  yet 
went  humbly  to  God,  and  with  ear- 
nest sincerity  prayed  as  David  did— 
"Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  0  God, 
and  renew  a  right  spirit  •>.  within 
me"  —no  man,  I  say,  ever  honestly 
made  that  request  of  his  heavenly 
Father  and  was  refused.  The  prom- 
ise is  full,  clear,  and  unequivocal— 
"Ask,  and  ye  shall  'receive;  seek, 
and  ye  shall  find;  knock,  and  it  shall 
be  opened  unto  you." 

Of  course,  if  you  do  not  feel  the 
need  of  any  change  in  your  nature; 
if  you  are  satisfied  with  your  present 
condition;  if  you  do  not  want  to  be 
born  again,  you  will  not  ask;  but  if 
you  believe  the  word  of  Christ,  that 


188  REGEXERA  TION. 

unless  you  are  born  again  you  cannot 
see  the  Kingdom  of  God,  then  go  to 
Him,  in  the  simple,  direct  way  of  a 
little  child,  and  ask  that  this  great 
work  may  be  accomplished  in  you, 
and  without  fail  your  prayer  will  be 
answered  and  you  will  be  saved. 

And  now,  in  closing,  let  me  notice 
two  objections  which  may  be,  and 
often  are,  made  to  this  doctrine  of 
regeneration.  The  first  lies  in  the 
fact  that  there  are  many  excellent, 
devout  Christians,  who  have  never 
had  any  conscious  experience  of 
this  great  change.  How  is  it,  then, 
that  they  are  Christians?  I  have 
known  not  a  few  church  members  of 
unquestionable  piety,  who  were 
greatly  troubled  by  this,  but  the 
answer  is  perfectly  simple,  for  often 
the  new  birth  takes  place  so  early  in 
life  that  it  cannot  be  consciously 
experienced,  any  more  than  the  nat-x 
ural  birth  is  consciously  experienced. 
When  a  child  is  born  of  Christian 
parents,  and  given  to  God  in  bap- 


RE  GENE  It  A  TION.  189* 

tism,  in  infancy,  and  is  brought  up 
in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 
Lord,  we  have  a  right  to  believe  that 
even  from  the  very  first  its  heart  is 
changed  and  its  earliest  thoughts 
and  feelings  are  under  the  divine 
influence.  Or,  even  when  this  is  not 
the  case,  it  may  be  that  the  truth 
has  so  gradually  found  its  way  into 
the  heart,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  has  so 
softly  and  silently  done  His  blessed 
work,  that  the  man  has  been  indeed 
born  again,  but  is  unable  to  say 
when,  or  how. 

The  other  objection  may  be  put  in 
this  way:  "If  this  regeneration  is 
such  a  radical  change  of  the  whole 
nature,  how  comes  it  that  there  is 
not  much  more  difference  between 
Christians  and  worldly  people  than 
there  is?"  Well,  in  the  first  place, 
there  is  an  immense,  an  infinite  dif- 
ference between  real  Christians  and 
those  who  are  not  Christians,  but 
being  largely  a  difference  in  the 
inner  life,  in  the  attitude  of  the  soul 


190  REGENERA  TION. 

toward  God,  in  the  feelings  and  emo- 
tions of  the  heart,  it  cannot  always 
be  seen,  it  cannot  be  estimated  by 
those  who  judge  alone  from  the  out- 
side. And  besides,  though  the 
change  is  radical,  its  results  are  not 
completed  in  this  life.  When  a  man 
is  born  the  second  time,  he  is  not 
born  a  full-grown  Christian,  any 
more  than  he  was  born  a  full-grown 
man  at  his  first  birth.  The  new  birth 
is  but  the  beginning  of  a  new  life, 
and  that  life  develops  gradually,  as 
all  life  does.  It  is  a  growth — "first 
the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that 
the  full  corn  in  the  ear."  And 
though  here  we  may  see  only  the 
first  tender  shoots  of  righteousness 
springing  out  of  the  new  nature, 
eternity  will  show  the  full  harvest  of 
a  perfect  character. 

But  let  us  not  stop  to  argue  the 
matter  with  our  blessed  Lord.  Let 
us  believe  that  He  knew  what  He 
was  saying,  when  He  declared  to 
Nicodemus,  "Except  a  man  be  born 


REG  EN  ERA  TION.  191 

again,  he  cannot  see  the  Kingdom  of 
God."  If  we  have  not  yet  ex- 
perienced this  new  birth,  let  us 
earnestly  and  diligently  seek  it. 
If  we  have,  let  us  try  to  show  its 
fruits  in  a  pure  and  godly  life. 


or  rwr 
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